UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 


Received 
Accession  No.<3~$<d" ^  0         .    Class  No. 


1892    Columbian  Year    1893 


Executive  and  Legislative  Branches 


OF  THE 


Government  of  Philadelphia 


AND 


World's  Fair  Commissioners 


HEAD  OF  THE  CITY  GOVERNMENT. 

EDWIN   S.  STUART, 
Mayor  of  the  City  of  Philadelphia. 


JOINT  SPECIAL  COMMITTEE  OF  PHILADELPHIA  COUNCILS  ON  WORLD'S  COLI'.MIMAN  Kx  POSITION. 


SJUTBESITT 


JOINT  SPECIAL  COMMITTEE  OF  PHILADELPHIA  COUNCILS  ON  WORLD'S  COH-.MWAX  EXPOSITION. 


TfltlVBESITY 


of  THK 


MBJ 


OD 


tflUVSRSITY 


PENNSYLVANIA'S  REPRESENTATIVES  ox  TIIK  NATIONAL  COLUMBIAN  UOMMIS* 

I'LTKI;  A.   1).  WIDKNKK,  ( 'oinmissiomT-at-larm'. 

JOHN  w.  WOODSIDK,  t'oi-  H.  BBUCB  BICKETTS, 

Xat tonal  Coninnssioiiers. 


&*iwkfi> 


SELECT  COUNCIL 

FOR  THE 

YEAR  COMMENCING  FIRST  MONDAY  IN  APRIL,  1893 

JAMES  L.   MILES,  President.  * 


WAKDS. 

I.     PENROSE  A.  McCLAIN, 


2.  JAMES  HAGAN, 

3.  f HARRY  HUNTER, 


1535  Moyaraensing  Avenue. 
912  Christian  Street. 
732  South  Twelfth  Street. 


4.  WILLIAM  McMULLEN, 

631  South  Ninth  Street. 

5.  JAMES  B.  ANDERSON, 


204  W.  Washington  Square. 


6.     THOM  AS  J.  RYAN , 


7.     SAMUEL  F.  HOUSEMAN, 


244  Crown  Street. 


1411  Lombard  Street. 

8.  THEODORE  M.  ETTING, 

Room  725,  Drexel  Building. 

9.  ROBERT  R.  BRINGHURST, 

38  North  Eleventh  Street. 
10.     F.  A.  BALLINGER, 

216  N.  Thirteenth  St. 
II.     WILLIAM  P.  BECKER, 

151  Fairmount  Avenue. 

12.  FRANK  SCHANZ, 

13.  JAMES  L.  MILES, 


414  Green  Street. 


524  Walnut  Street. 

14.  WILLIAM  G.RUTHERFORD, 

670  Bankson  Street. 

15.  FRANK  A.  GILBERT, 

1727  Fairmount  Avenue. 

16.  HENRY  CLAY, 


906  North  Sixth  Street. 


17.  CHARLES  KITCHENMAN, 

322  Thompson  Street, 

18.  ISAAC  D.  HETZELL, 

322  Richmond  Street. 

19.  THOMAS  J.  ROSE, 

143  Susquehanua  Avenue. 

20.  J  WM.  RODENHAUSEN, 

1445  Franklin  Street. 


WARDS. 

21.  JOSEPH  M.  ADAMS, 

135  Seville  Street,  Manayunk. 

22.  WM.  F.  BROWN, 

6249  North  27th  St.,  Chesfnut  Hill. 

23.  J.  EMORY  BYRAM, 

4645  Penn  Street,  Frankford. 

24.  I  GEORGE  W.  KENDRICK,  Jr., 

3507  Baring  Street. 

25.  WILBUR  F.  SHORT, 

2915  Richmond  Street. 

26.  THOMAS  B.  McAVOY, 


1526  South  Broad  Street. 


27.    EDWARD  W.  PATTON, 


3926  Walnut  Street. 


28.  WILLIAM  McMURRAY, 

1345  Arch  Street. 

29.  JOHN  E.  HANIFEN, 

Thompson  and  Savery  Streets. 

30.  WILLIAM  McCOACH, 

1607  Sansom  Street. 

31.  WATSON  D.  UPPERMAN, 

2359  E.  Susqueham.a  Ave. 

32.  FRANKLIN  M.  HARRIS, 

1611  Filbert  Street. 

33.  MILTON  S.  APPLE, 

2864  North  Fifth  Street. 

34.  f  W.  HARRY  STIRLING, 

9  Strawberry  Street. 

35.  EDWARD  MORRELL, 

505  Chestnut  Street. 

36.  HUGH  BLACK, 

1133  South  Twenty-fourth  Street. 

37.  CHAS.  A.  SCHAUFLER, 

915  Dauphin  Street. 


JOSEPH  H.  PAIST,  Chief  Clerk, 

1821  Mount  Vernon  Street. 
HENRY  W.  ROBERTSON,  Assist.  Clerk, 

1915  Market  Street. 
JAMES  FRANKLIN,  Serg't-at-Arms, 

1523  Christian  Street. 


*    Succeeding  James  R.  Gates,  who  retired  April,  1893. 

f    Succeeding  Peter  Monroe,  who  retired  April,  1893. 

J     Succeeding  Thomas  M.  Hammett,  who  retired  April,  1893. 

g    Succeeding  John  Morrisson,  who  retired  April,  1893. 

\    Succeeding  B.  S.  C.  Thomas,  who  retired  April,  1893. 


COMMON  COUNCIL 


FOR  THE 


WARDS. 

1.  WILLIAM  A.  MILLER,  1819  South  Fourth  Street. 
JOHN  M.  STRATTON,  1645  Passyunk  Avenue. 
JOSEPH  F.  PORTER,  1310  South  Fourth  Street. 
A.  M.  LOUDENSLAGER,  323  Griscom  Street. 
JUDSON  C.  KEITH,  1827  South  Seventh  Street. 
ROBERT  DENNY,  1426  South  Sixth  Street. 
SAMUEL  L.  KING,  921  Reed  Street. 

2.  CHARGES  F.  ISEMINGER,  628  Federal  Street. 
ANDREW  W.  FALBEY,  233  Federal  Street. 
JOHN  L.  HAROLD,  917  Passyunk  Avenue. 

3.  HIRAM  BOWMAN,  801  South  Fifth  Street. 

4.  SAMUEL  W.  BAIZLEY,  117  Congress  Street. 

5.  JOHN  F.  REIDENBACH,  127  Swanwick  Street. 
CHARLES  W.  NAULTY,  2f.5  Pine  Street. 

6.  WILLIAM  VAN  OSTEN,  10  North  Fifth  Street. 

7.  CHARLES  SEGER,  40  South  Sixth  Street. 
GEORGE  H.  WILSON,  1130  Lombard  Street. 
ANDREW  F.  STEVENS,  JR.,  1345  Lombard  Street.     (1) 

8.  WENCEL  HARTMAN,  125  South  Seventh  Street. 
CHARLES  Y.  AUDENRIED,  505  Chestnut  Street. 

9.  CHARLES  ROBERTS,  1716  Arch  Street. 

10.  NATHAN  T.  LEWIS,  222  North  Ninth  Street. 
BENNETT  L.  SMEDLEY,  2050  Vine  Street. 
WILLIAM  H.  GARRETT,  146  North  Thirteenth  Street. 

11.  WILLIAM  J.  CARTER,  349  North  Front  Street. 

12.  WM.  A.  L.  RIEGEL,  M.D.,  468  North  Fourth  Street.   (2) 

13.  JAMES  C.  COLLINS,  327  North  Front  Street. 
ELLSWORTH  H.  HULTS,  863  North  Seventh  Street. 

14.  JOHN  T.  STAUFFER,  333  N.  Twelfth  Street. 

JOHN  N.  HORTON,  1318  Spring  Garden  Street.  (3) 

JOHN  A.  FOREPAUGH,  1333  Brown  Street. 

15.  USELMA  C.  SMITH,  707  Walnut  Street. 
ALEXANDER  COLVILLE,  528  North  Twenty-second  St. 
DAVID  C.  CLEAVER,  1825  Spring  Garden  Street. 
CHARLFjS  L.  BROWN,  523  Chestnut  Street. 

HENRY  W.  LAMBIRTH,  631  North  Nineteenth  Street. (4) 
JOSEPH  F.  SWOPE,  403  Girard  Building.  (4) 

16.  SAMUEL  S.  LOWENSTEJN,  944  North  Firth  Street. 
CHARLES  J.  HAUGER,  1139  St.  John  Street. 

17.  JAMES.  E.  MCLAUGHLIN,  220  Oxford  Street. 

JACOB  ROTH.  1318  Germantown  Avenue.  (5) 

18.  JOSEPH  H.  STRAUB,  113  South  Fifth  Street. 
J.  F.  HENDERSON,  636  Hockley  Street. 
WILLIAM  ROWEN,  251  East  Girard  Avenue. 
AGNEW  MACBRIDE,  401  Drexel  Building. 

19.  THOMAS  FIRTH,  123  Susquehanna  Avenue. 
ROBERT  MARKMANN,  2425  North  Seventh  Street. 
WILLIAM  M.  GEARY,  1926  North  Third  Street. 

G.  EDW.  SCHLEGELMILCH,  1714  Frankford  Avenue. 
J.  GORDON  SHOWAKER,  2362  Fairhill  Street.  (6) 

EDWARD  BUCHHOLZ,  2007  Germantown  Avenue.      ((i) 
ROB'T  W.  B.  CORNELIUS.  M.  D.,  2512  North  Sixth  Street. 

20.  A.  ATWOOD  GRACE,  523  Chestnut  Street. 
CHARLES  K.  SMITH,  123  Arch  Street. 
MORRIS  M.  CAVEROW,  970  Hutchinson  Street. 
HARRY  P.  CROWELL,  1731  North  Eighth  Street. 
GEORGE  HAWKES,  1508  North  Seventh  Street. 
GEORGE  W.  CONRAD,  1411  Frankin  Street.  (7) 

21.  WM.  F.  DIXON,  102  Leverington  Ave.,  Manayunk. 
JOSIAH  LINTON,  112  N.  Front  Street. 

A.  ELLWOOD  JONES,  26  Sumac  Street,  Manayunk.  (8) 

22.  THOMAS  MEEHAN,  Chew  St.  below  Gorgas  Ln.,  Gtii. 
GEORGE  E.  FORD,  927  Chestnut,  Street.  (9) 
JACOB  J.  SEEDS,  115  North  Seventh  Street. 
SAMUEL   GOODMAN,  621  Chestnut  Street. 

JOHN  W.  DAVIDSON,  4529  Rubicam  Ave.,  Gtn.  (10) 


WARDS. 

23.  WILLIAM  HORROCKS,  4431  Frankford  Avenue. 

JONATHAN  HAERTTEK,  4535  Mulberry  St.,  Frankford. 

24.  JAMES  M.  WEST,  N.  W.  .Cor.  4th  &  Chestnut  Sts. 

PHILIP  RUDOLPH,  306  North  Fortieth  Street. 
WILLIAM  A.  PORTER,  515  North  Thirty- third  Street. 
GUSTAV  R.  SCHAEFER,  298  Bullitt  Building.  (11) 

FREDERICK  W.  EGGELING,  Cor.  Aspen  &  Brooklyn   (11) 
JOHN  McPARLAND,  622  Brooklyn  Street. 

25.  WILLIAM  R.  KNIGHT,  Ju.,  3555  Kensington  Avenue. 

HUGH  T.  PIGOTT,  2756  Church  St.,  Bridesburg. 
FREDERICK  C.  SIMON,  22  North  Seventh  Street. 
FRANKLIN  REED,  3170  Richmond  Street.  (12) 

26.  EDWARD  A.  ANDERSON,  206  South  Seventh  Street. 
THOMAS  HUNTER,  M.  D.,  1500  Wharton  Street. 
CHRISTOPHER  C.  BASTIAN,  Passyunk  Av.  S. of  loth  St. 
S.  C.  AIMAN.  1604  S.  Sixteenth  Street.  (1:!) 

27.  LEWIS  W.  MOORE,  108  South  Fortieth  Street^ 
JOHN  M.  WALTON,  4205  Chester  Avenue. 

J.  WARNER  GOHEEN,  227  South  Sixth  Street.  (14) 

CHAS.  E.  CONNELL,  60th  and  Greenway  Avenue. 

28.  HIRAM  A.  MILLER,  1609  Allegheny  Avenue. 
JACOB  T.  ROSSELL,  408  North  Third  Street. 
Vacancy. 

GEORGE  J.  JEWILL,  2208  North  Eighteenth  Street.  (15) 
FREDERICK  STEHLE,  3426  Ridge  Avenue.  (15) 

29.  ELIAS  P.  SMITHERS,  219  South  Sixth  Street. 
JOHN  L.  BALDWIN,  1530  Stillman  Street. 
WILLIAM  B.  SOUDER.2410  Columbia  Avenue. 
JOSEPH  MARTIN,  M.  D.,  2009  Columbia  Avenue. 
CLAYTON  M.  HUNSICKER,  1842  Master  Street. 
WILLIAM  H.  SHOEMAKER,  2033  North  College  Avenue. 

30.  WM.  J.  POLLOCK,  734  S.  Seventeenth  Street. 
JOHN  IRVINE,  1538  South  Street. 
WILLIAM  H.  WILSON,  2222  St.  Alban's  Place. 

31.  ROBERT  S.  LEITHEAD,  2024  Otis  Street. 
JOHN  PALLATT,  2301  E.  Cumberland  Street. 
WILLIAM  C.  HADDOCK,  2219  East  York  Street. 
GEORGE  W.  KNOLL,  2620  Coral  Street. 

32.  WILLIAM  H.  JAMES,  N.  E.  Cor.  Fifth  and  Chestnut  Sts. 

FREDERICK  A.  WHITE,  M.  D.,  1812  N.  27th  Street. 
ROBERT  W.  FINLETTER.1937  N.  Twelfth  Street. 
NORRIS  E.  HENDERSON,  1929  North  Twelfth  St.        (Mi) 

33.  R.  C.  HORR,  2728  North  Broad  Street. 
SAMUEL  LAMOND,  433  East  Somerset  Street. 
JOHN  STEWART,  2710  Fairhill  Street. 

ARTHUR  T.  WADSWORTH,  922  West  Cambria  St.      ( I T  > 

34.  THOS.  L.  HICKS,  23  North  Juniper  Street. 

JOHN  T.  STRICKLAND,  303  North  Sixty-fifth  Street. 

35.  JOSEPH  H.  BROWN,  Holmesburg. 

36.  JAMES  BAWN,  1909  Federal  Street. 

SAMUEL  K.  STINGER,  3124  M'harton  Street. 
ARTHUR  R.  H.  MORROW,  2039  Morris  Street.  (18) 

37.  JAMES  B.  WALLS,  2421  North  Tenth  Street. 

AUSTIN  W.  BENNETT,  1035  Dauphin  Street.  (iy) 


JOHN  ECKSTEIN,  Chief  Clerk, 

1505  Centennial  Avenue. 
GEO.  W.  KOCHERSPERGER,  Assistant  Clerk, 

1903  N.  Eleventh  Street. 
GAVIN  NEILSON,  Assistant  Clerk, 

Mt.  Pleasant  Avenue,  Germantown. 
AV.  H.  FKLTON,  Assistant  Clerk, 

860  North  Forty-second  Street. 
GEORGE  W.  JOHNSON,  Sergeant-at-Arms, 

23J2  Parrish  Street 


(1)  Succeeding  Andrew  Kinkaid,  who  retired  April,  1893.  (2)  Succeeding  James  H.  Linn,  who  retired  April,  1893.  (3)  Succeed- 
ing Samuel  H.  Fisher,  who  retired  April,  1893.  (4)  Succeeding  William  E.  Lindsley  and  Michael  J.  Fahy.  who  retired  April.  ],s<i;t. 
(5)  Succeeding  Sebastian  Seiberlich,  who  retired  April,  1893.  (6)  Succeeding  William  Deacon  and  Robert  Ingram,  who  retired  April 
1893.  (7)  Succeeding  William  Rodenhausen,  who  retired  April,  1893.  (8)  Succeeding  C.  P.  Carmany,  who  retired  April.  l,s«>:; 
(9)  Died,  April,  1893.  (10)  Succeeding  George  B.  Edwards,  who  retired  April,  ls<(3.  (11)  Succeeding  George  W.  Kendrick  aad  Wni 
Griffith  who  retired  April,  1893.  (12)  Succeeding  Conrad  S.  Wilson,  who  retired  April,  1893.  (13)  Succeeding  A.  J.  Whittin-liMm 
who  retired  April,  1K93.  (14)  Succeeding  William  M.  Smith,  who  died,  April,  1892.  (15)  Succeeding  Jobn  I).  Heins  and  Albert  I) 
Wilson,  who  retired  April.  1893.  (16)  Succeeding  George  Myers,  who  retired  April,  1893.  (17)  Succeeding  Nathan  F.  Tomlin,  who 
retired  April,  1893.  (18)  Succeeding  Dr.  C.  W.  Karsner,  who  retired  April,  1893.  (19)  Succeeding  Rudolph  E.  Rake,  who  retired 
April,  1893. 


PHILADELPHIA 


THE  STORY   OF 


AN  AMERICAN  CITY 


BY   GEORGE   EDWARD  VICKERS 


CITY   OF   PHILADELPHIA 


UNDER   THE  AUSPICES  OF  THE 


JOINT  SPECIAL  COMMITTEE  OF  COUNCILS 


ON 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN   EXPOSITION 


PHILADELPHIA 

DUNLAP   PRINTING   COMPANY,  1306-8-10  FILBERT  STREET 

1893 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1893, 
In  the  office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress  at  Washington,  D.  C. 


CARPENTER'S  HALL, 
Chestnut  St.  below  Fourth  St.     Place  of  meeting  of  First  American  Congress. 


UHI7BRSITT 


PHILADELPHIA. 


THE    STORY    OI=    KN    MT^ERIOKN    OITV 


CHAPTER   I. 

SOME  FACTS  CONCERNING  THE  EARLY  HISTORY  OF  THE  WESTERN  CONTINENT — COLUMBUS 
AND  His  CONTEMPORARIES— THE  EARLY  NORSE  EXPLORERS— THE  INFLUX  OF  EMI- 
GRANTS, ADVENTURERS,  CAPITALISTS,  AND  THE  RESULT. 

IN  the  year  eighteen  hundred  and  ninety-two,  the  four  hundredth 
anniversary  of  the  discovery  of  the  Western  Continent  by  Columbus, 

the  people  of  the  American  nation  paused  in  their  busy  pursuit  of 
varied  avocations  and  began  to  take  a  look  backward.  The  occasion 
and  the  circumstances  under  which  the  diversion  was  indulged  were 
not  untimely.  The  growth  of  the  land  in  wealth  and  population  dur- 
ing the  preceding  thirty  years  had  been  on  a  scale  without  precedent 
in  any  similar  period  since  the  beginning  of  its  history.  The  long 
term  of  peace  enjoyed  by  the  country,  commencing  with  the  close  of 
the  Civil  War  in  eighteen  hundred  and  sixty-five,  afforded  opportunity 
for  the  development  of  its  immense  and  varied  resources.  The  vast 
territory,  stretching  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  and  from  the  frozen 
region  of  the  St.  Lawrence  to  the  warm  clime  of  the  Mexican  Gulf,  had 
been  spanned  and  girded  by  railways  until  every  section  of  its  enormous 
extent  was  not  only  easily  accessible  but  available  for  the  settlement  of 
man. 

So  numerous  and  favorable  were  the  means  of  rapid  communica- 
tion from  one  quarter  of  the  continent  to  the  other  that  in  parts,  hitherto 
remote  and  unsettled,  cities  had  sprung  up  and  become  great  in  spaces 
of  time  so  brief  as  to  render  their  rise  almost  miraculous.  The  large 
area  of  land  known  to  the  older  population  of  the  States  on  the 
Atlantic  coast  as  the  Great  West — a  land  of  mystery,  practically  unex- 
plored, and  peopled  by  savages  fifty  years  before — had  succumbed  to 
the  swift  march  of  civilization,  and  its  numerous  towns,  with  their 

(5) 


6  THE   STORY   OF   AX    AMERICAN    CITY. 


stupendous  commercial  interests,  competed  with  the  old  cities  of  the 
East  for  the  honor  of  superiority  in  the  number  of  inhabitants  as  well 
as  in  material  wealth.  The  total  population  of  the  country  at  this 
time,  as  ascertained  by  the  census,  was  almost  sixty-five  million  souls. 
Of  its  political  divisions,  consisting  of  forty-four  States,  six  Territories 
and  the  District  of  Columbia,  in.  which  was  located  its  capital,  more 
than  half  the  number,  formerly  composing  the  unsurveyed  and  un- 
broken West,  had  been  admitted  into  the  Union  of  States  within  fifty 
years. 

The  advent  of  railroads  in  the  new  land  had  given  an  unwonted 
stimulus  to  the  progress  of  the  people  ;  and  the  new  cities  of  the  western 
portion  of  the  country  were  hurried  into  being  and  then  into  full  growth 
with  a  rapidity  that  left  them  without  the  usual  experience  or  the 
memories  of  youth,  thus  adding  to  the  map  of  the  Republic,  from  time 
to  time,  towns  unknown  save  to  contemporaneous  history,  which,  in 
some  instances,  aspired  to  a  rivalry  with  renowned  cities  of  the  East, 
the  advance  and  development  of  which  were  the  work  of  centuries. 
That  the  new  but  quick-maturing  cities  were  not  disturbed  by  the 
prospect  of  standing  in  full  stature  before  the  eyes  of  famed  and  cultured 
towns  invested  with  the  prestige  of  the  historic  achievements  and  the 
social  eminence  of  nine  generations,  but  accepted  without  concern,  the 
situation  of  their  sudden  evolution  from  the  original  settler's  hut  to  a 
comparison  in  size  and  wealth  with  the  oldest  and  proudest  of  their 
sisters,  is  a  fact  that  loses  its  novelty  in  the  consideration  of  the  char- 
acter of  the  people  and  of  the  condition  of  the  times. 

It  may,  perhaps,  be  regarded  as  not  remarkable  that  the  thoughts 
and  modes  of  life  of  the  citizens,  especially  in  the  newer  section  of  the 
land,  kept  pace,  in  a  measure,  with  the  growth  of  their  towns  while  not 
serving  to  render  them  unimpressionable  on  the  subject  of  the  country's 
past,  nor  to  make  it  difficult  to  arouse  in  their  minds  a  sense  of  the 
propriety  of  commemorating  notable  occurrences  in  its  history.  The 
spirit  of  universal  consent  in  which  the  proposal  to  celebrate  the  event 
of.  the  discovery  was  received  throughout  the  nation  illustrated  the  dis- 
position, at  least,  of  the  race  which,  after  a  lapse  of  four  centuries, 
found  itself  awakened  to  an  unusual  degree  to  the  realization  of  its 
enjoyment  of  the  heritage  disclosed  to  civilization  by  the  Italian  navi- 
gator who,  prompted  by  dreams  of  fame  and  affluence,  had  sailed 
westward  in.  search  of  the  unknown  from  the  coast  of  Spain. 

If  the  nation  which  owned  the  discoverer,  as  a  native,  or  the 
country  under  whose  auspices  he  set  out  on  the  eventful  voyage,  had 
either  of  them  been  accorded  by  the  other  powers  of  the  earth  the 


INDEPENDENCE  HALL,  Chestnut  St.  below  Sixth  St. 
Second  place  of  meetiner  of  American  Congress,  where  the  Declaration  of  Independence  was  signed. 


THE  FAMOUS  VOYAGE  OF  ERIC. 


undisputed  privilege  of  possessing  the  Columbian  land  it  would  not 
this  day  be  peopled  by  a  race  speaking  the  tongue  of  the  Anglo-Saxon 
and  its  four  hundred  years  history  would  be  more  easily 
That  the  origin  and  character  of  the  people  comprehended  by  lil 
United  States  of  America  are  widely  disconnected  from  those  of  the 
Roman  and  Hispanic  would  seem,  in  view  of  the  exclusive  represen- 
tation of  those  nationalities  in  the  person  of  the  original  voyager,  to 
require  explanation.  The  consideration  of  the  fact,  however,  so  familiar 
to  the  world,  that  the  fruits  of  great  discoveries,  whether  relating  to 
the  earth's  physical  system,  to  chemistry  or  to  articles  of  general 
utility  produced  by  man's  inventive  faculty,  are  sometimes  enjoyed, 
not  by  the  discoverer  or  his  kindred,  but  by  others  in  nowise  responsible 
for  their  existence,  may  serve  to  suggest  a  reason  why  a  people,  other 
than  those  of  the  nation  of  Columbus  or  of  the  country  of  his  later 
adoption,  possess  the  most  important  and  favored  part  of  the  continent 
supposed  to  have  been  first  beheld  by  his  eyes.  That  such  supposition 
has  stood  the  test  of  investigation  by  minds  capable  and  disinterested, 
which  have  penetrated  to  a  period  of  time  five  centuries  before  Columbus, 
it  cannot  be  truthfully  asserted  ;  nor  can  it  be  affirmed  that  if  Columbus 
had  failed  to  make  the  memorable  voyage  wThich  landed  him  at  Sail 
Salvador  in  October,  fourteen  hundred  and  ninety-two,  the  new  land 
would  have  been  discovered  before  the  close  of  the  next  century. 

It  is  one  of  the  grave  conditions  of  a  painstaking  search  for  the 
truth  of  tradition  that  the  mind  knows  not  wiiere  it  may  rest  secure  in 
the  conviction  that  the  object  of  the  quest  has  been  discovered  and 
that  its  light,  hitherto  obscure,  illuminates  the  dark  and  silent  prospect, 
revealing  much  that  has  been  hidden,  and  correcting,  on  the  part  of 
the  vital  present,  many  erroneous  impressions  of  the  uncertain  past. 
Through  the  halo  of  glory  encircling  the  head  of  Columbus,  the  studious 
eye  of  history  penetrates  beyond  the  space  of  six  hundred  years  and 
discerns  in  the  uncertain  mist  the  figure  of  Eric  the  Red  in  search  of 
a  shore  once  seen  by  a  storm-tossed  Icelandic  sailor,  which  the  Norse- 
man finally  reaches  and  names  Greenland.  The  spirit  of  adventure 
and  exploration  which  animated  the  discoverer  of  the  ice-bound  land 
was  not  uncommon  in.  those  of  his  race.  With  the  image  of  the  form 
of  Eric  looming  from  his  ancient  boat  on  the  cold  Northern  sea  and 
gazing  with  curious  eyes  on  the  strange  shore  of  Greenland,  in  the  year 
eight  hundred  and  seventy-six,  the  mind  is  prepared  to  receive  without 
surprise  the  next  important  view  that  arises  through  the  mist  of  cen- 
turies from  the  procession  of  Discovery.  Greenland  had  been  known  to 
man  for  one  hundred  and  twenty-four  years.  Eric's  fame  as  its  dis- 


10  THE  STORY  OF  AN  AMERICAN  CITY. 

coverer  lived  in  the  annals  of  Iceland  and  Norway.  The  land  had 
been  largely  peopled  by  Icelanders,  and  even  from  far  Norway  came 
voyagers  and  settlers.  The  movement  was  downward,  southward, 
toward  the  unknown  continent  that  still  slumbered  in  silence  and 
mystery. 

In  the  vast  solitude  of  an  age  and  clime,  unrelieved  by  flashes  of 
knowledge,  or  by  the  light  of  recorded  history,  the  image  of  Bjorne,  the 
Icelander,  arises,  his  anxious  eyes  peering  through  the  mist,  as  his  vessel 
tosses  on  the  inhospitable  sea,  in  a  vain  gaze  for  the  sight  of  that 
land,  discovered  by  the  famed  Eric  the  Red,  and  on  which  now  resides 
liis  father,  who  had  emigrated  from  Iceland.  The  year  was  one  thou- 
sand. The  storm,  which  can  be  no  stranger  to  Bjorne,  rises  and  sweeps 
bis  vessel  far  beyond  Greenland,  until  he  comes  within  view  of  a  coun- 
try without  snowy  mountains,  and  which  he  soon  discovers  is  not  the 
place  he  seeks.  He  does  not  attempt  to  land,  but  turns  his  boat  north, 
ward,  anxious  no  doubt,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  he  has  sailed  far  out  of 
the  way  of  the  object  of  his  search,  and  after  bearing  for  three  or  four 
days  in  a  northeasterly  direction,  he  reaches  his  destination.  But  Green- 
land does  not  suit  Bjorne,  and  after  awhile  he  goes  to  Norway,  the  home 
of  his  youth.  He  tells  about  his  voyage  and  the  new  land  he  saw. 
The  curiosity  of  his  friends  is  aroused.  They  wish  to  know  something 
about  it,  but  as  he  did  not  go  on  shore,  lie  is  unable  to  enlighten  them. 
His  failure  to  investigate,  no  doubt,  causes  Bjorne  to  fall  considerably 
in  the  estimation  of  his  acquaintances.  Public  sentiment  favors  the 
fitting  out  of  an  expedition  which  shall  sail  in  search  of  the  new  coun- 
try. Bjorne's  friend,  Leif  Erikson,  is  so  much  impressed  by  what  he 
bears,  that  he  makes  the  recreant  voyager  an  offer  for  his  ship.  Bjorne 
accepts,  and  Leif  securing  a  crew  sets  sail  for  the  unknown  land.  In 
the  course  of  many  days  they  reach  a  rocky  island  far  to  the  southwest 
of  Greenland.  They  name  the  strange  place  Helluland,  which  is  des- 
tined after  a  lapse  of  five  hundred  years  to  be  known  as  Newfound- 
land. 

Their  voyage  does  not  end  with  the  newly  discovered  shore.  They 
remain  some  days  and  then  sail  southwest  and  reach  another  country, 
which  they  name  Markland  ;  a  land  destined  to  be  known  five  centuries 
later  as  Nova  Scotia.  The  success  of  the  expedition  will  not  allow 
their  spirits  to  subside.  Since  passing  the  coast  of  Greenland  they  have 
discovered  two  new  lands.  Their  efforts  thus  far  have  been  rewarded. 
In  the  belief  that  they  shall  discover  other  countries  and  with  expec- 
tations aroused  to  an  excessive  degree  they  again  set  sail  with  the 
prow  of  their  ship  still  southward. 


THE  EARLY  NORSE  VOYAGERS.  11 

Iii  the  space  of  two  days  they  are  within  sight  of  a  land  in  appear- 
ance unlike  the  shores  from  which  they  recently  departed.  The  climate 
is  temperate,  the  air  fragrant,  and  the  vales  and  hills  are  covered  with 
verdure.  As  they  approach  nearer,  they  behold  a  prospect  which 
might  alone  have  its  similitude  in  the  story  of  the  Garden  of  Eden. 
Trees  laden  with  fruit,  and  vines  borne  down  with  the  wild  grape  in 
rich  clusters,  greet  their  wondering  eyes.  The  abundance  of  the  grape 
suggests  to  them  a  name  and  they  call  the  place  Vinland.  They 
disembark  and  revel  in  the  beauty  and  beneficence  of  the  new  land,  so 
different  from  the  cold,  bleak  hills  of  Norway.  It  is  the  season  of 
autumn,  and  they  decide  to  remain  in  the  fragrant  country  until  spring. 

There  is  no  record  in  detail  of  the  experience  during  the  winter, 
on  the  shore  of  the  great  new  continent,  of  these  early  voyagers.  The 
imagination  alone  may  picture  their  delight  at  every  new  discovery  in 
the  animal  and  vegetable  kingdom  in  the  strange  country.  If  the 
winter  was  severe,  it  was  yet  milder  than  the  mildest  in  their  own  land, 
and  they  were  doubtless  amply  provided  with  the  skins  and  furs  of 
beasts  to  preserve  them  from  cold.  They  were  likewise  supplied  with 
weapons,  with  which  to  slay  beasts  and  fowl,  and  it  is  reasonably  safe 
to  assume  they  did  not,  during  their  entire  sojourn  on  the  strange 
coast,  lack  the  chief  of  the  necessaries  of  life. 

When  they  returned  home  in  the  following  summer,  all  Norway 
rang  with  the  news  of  their  discovery.  The  stories  of  the  new  land, 
with  its  abundance  of  fruit  growing  wild,  and  the  game  running  at 
large,  had  the  effect  which  would  be  naturally  expected.  A  fever  of 
emigration  seized  a  number  of  the  people,  including  Leif  Erikson's 
brother  Thorwald.  An  expedition  set  out  with  Thorwald  at  its  head, 
the  party  sailing  from  Norway  in  the  year  one  thousand  and  two.  In 
the  course  of  time  they  reached  Vinland,  disembarked,  and  founded  a 
settlement.  The  ship  afterward  returned  to  Norway.  It  is  a  grim 
commentary  011  the  remorselessness  of  time,  that  although  subsequent 
voyages  were  made  by  Norwegians,  no  trace  of  these  adventurous 
settlers  has  been  found,  from  the  date  of  the  departure  of  the  ship 
which  had  carried  them  from  their  native  land,  down  to  this  day. 

The  ancient  Vinland  is  supposed  to  have  been  situated  on  what  is 
now  the  coast  of  Rhode  Island,  near  Newport,  though  some  writers  are 
disposed  to  believe  its  location  was  on  the  spot  known  as  Martha's 
Vineyard,  on  the  Massachusetts  coast. 

The  return  to  Spain  of  Columbus  after  his  first  voyage  and  dis- 
covery of  what  may  be  termed  the  Southern  gateway  of  the  Western 
Continent,  the  Bahama  Islands,  five  centuries  after  Leif  Erikson  had 


12  THE  STORY  OF  AN  AMERICAN  CITY. 

beheld  its  Northern  coast,  resulted  in  stirring  up  the  adventurous  spirits 
of  Europe.  The  Southern  countries  especially  were  prolific  in  the 
production  of  explorers  who,  actuated  by  various  motives,  set  out  with 
one  or  more  ships  for  the  new  world.  Not  alone  Spain,  but  Portugal, 
Italy  and  France  participated  in  the  benefits  of  the  discovery  and 
added  their  quota  to  the  expeditions  that  spread  over  the  smooth  ex- 
panse of  the  Southern  sea.  It  remained,  however,  for  a  land  in  the 
North  to  act  more  promptly  than  others  in  taking  advantage  of  informa- 
tion derived  from  the  Columbian  event.  This  country  was  England. 
Henry  VII  was  on  the  throne  and  the  nation  had  begun  to  recover 
from  the  devastating  effects  of  the  bloody  series  of  Wars  of  the  Roses. 
Five  years  after  Columbus  had  landed  on  the  islands  off  the  Southern 
portion  of  the  Continent,  or  in  fourteen  hundred  and  ninety-seven,  the 
English  monarch  sent  out  John  and  Sebastian  Cabot  with  two  ships 
and  a  considerable  party  also  on  a  voyage  of  discovery. 

Up  to  this  time  Columbus  and  all  Southern  Europe  reposed  under 
the  impression  that  the  newly  discovered  country  was  a  portion  of  India. 
It  was  in  the  hope  of  reaching  that  land  of  storied  wealth  by  a  short 
route  that  Columbus  had  originally  set  out  from  Spain.  When  he 
arrived  at  the  islands  on  his  first  voyage,  the  spirit  of  elation  and 
thanksgiving  which  he  is  reported  to  have  displayed  was  due  to  the 
belief  that  he  had  reached  the  Western  shore  of  India.  The  several 
natives  whom  he  had  persuaded  to  accompany  him  to  Spain  were  at 
once  called  Indians  and  by  that  name  the  original  occupants  of  the  new 
continent  have  been  known  ever  since. 

The  Cabots  took  a  Northward  course,  and  after  sailing  for  many 
days  through  icebergs  they  reached  the  coast  of  what  is  now  known  as 
Labrador.  While  there  was  doubtless  little  in  the  inhospitable  snow- 
covered  hills  of  that  dreary  land  to  command  admiration  they  experi- 
enced the  satisfaction  of  recording  their  first  discovery  and  continued 
their  exploration.  They  next  sighted  the  shores  of  what  appears  on 
the  map  of  North  America  as  Newfoundland.  After  familiarizing 
themselves  with  the  peculiarities  of  the  new  lands  and  their  products 
and  inducing  several  of  the  natives  to  accompany  them,  they  sailed  for 
England,  taking  with  them  also  specimens  of  animals  and  fowl  cap- 
tured on  the  strange  shores. 

One  year  after  the  Cabots  had  discovered  the  northern  coast, 
Columbus  sailed  for  the  third  time  westward.  On  his  second  voyage, 
he  had  revisited  the  islands  previously  discovered,  including  those 
designated  on  the  charts  of  to-day  as  Hayti,  San  Domingo,  and  Cuba. 
With  reference  to  the  first  named  of  the  group,  a  melancholy  revelation 


COLUMBUS  AND  THE  CABOTS.  13 

had  awaited  him.  One  of  his  ships  having  been  wrecked  on  the  first 
voyage,  he  left  its  crew,  consisting  of  thirty-five  persons,  as  a  colony 
in  possession  of  the  island,  which  he  had  named  Hispariiola,  and  when 
he  returned,  it  was  found  all  had  been  slain  by  the  natives,  whose  anger 
they  had  provoked  by  their  injustice  and  cruelty.  That  he  had  been 
shocked  and  distressed  by  the  news,  it  may  be  justly  imagined  nT  view 
of  the  impulsive  temperament  of  the  man,  and  of  the  undoubtedly 
fine  sensibilities  of  his  nature.  The  third  and  most  momentous  of 
his  expeditions  found  him  with  more  experience  with  the  climate,  the 
latitude  and  the  natives,  and  less  disposed  to  tarry  among  the  islands 
already  taken  possession  of  in  the  name  of  the  sovereigns  of  Spain. 
He  sailed  southwest,  still  resting  under  the  delusion  that  he  had  reached 
the  western  coast  of  India.  To  a  mind  imbued  with  the  spirit  of 
modern  times,  having  in  view  the  methods  in  use  for  the  quick  dispatch 
of  business,  the  rapid  adaptation  of  means  to  ends,  and  the  readiness 
of  men  to  seize  and  possess  themselves  of  things  of  worldly  value  to 
which  the  consideration  of  priority  of  right  may  justify  their  claim, 
even  though  the  worth  of  what  they  strive  for  may  not  attain  to  that 
of  an  entire  continent,  it  would  appear  singular  that  six  years  had  been 
allowed  to  pass,  and  three  voyages  had  been  made,  before  the  discoverer 
and  the  nation  which  supported  his  undertaking  ascertained  the  stupen- 
dous truth,  that  the  numerous  islands  disclosed  to  their  eyes  had  no 
connection  with  India,  and  that  a  few  leagues  further  west  lay  the 
greatest  of  the  continents  of  the  world.  The  result  of  this  third  voyage 
was  the  discovery  of  the  main  land  of  the  new  country  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Orinoco  River  in  South  America,  on  the  coast  of  what  is  now 
Venezuela. 

In  the  meanwhile,  the  English  voyagers,  the  Cabots,  had  been 
more  successful  in  the  space  of  time  employed,  if  not  more  enterprising. 
Their  first  voyage  had  resulted  in  the  discovery  of  the  continent  itself, 
at  its  northern  coast,  or  in  its  rediscovery,  since  they  had  followed  the 
course  of  the  hardy  Norwegians  under  Leif  Erikson,  five  hundred  years 
before.  They  had  returned  to  their  native  clime  with  the  story  of  their 
voyage,  its  products  and  its  results  before  Columbus  descried  the  lower 
portion  of  the  continent,  and  prior  to  the  astounding  revelation,  to  the 
people  of  Southern  Europe  especially,  that  the  strange  land  was  not 
India,  but  .a  now  world  hitherto  unknown  to  Eastern  civilization. 

The  return  of  the  Cabots  to  England  and  the  arrival  subsequently 
of  Columbus  in  Spain  from  his  third  voyage,  with  its  momentous 
results  were  sufficient  to  excite  and  dazzle  Europe.  Thenceforth  for 
more  than  one  hundred  years,  history  presents  the  spectacle  of  an 


14  THE  STORY  OF  AN  AMERICAN  CITY. 

unbroken  procession  of  explorers,  adventurers,  capitalists,  and  royally 
commissioned  agents  pouring  into  the  new  land,  and  taking  their  ways  in 
many  and  various  directions.  Up  great  rivers,  through  unbroken  wilds, 
across  rugged  mountains,  around  vast  lakes  and  over  barriers  seem- 
ingly impenetrable,  daring  men  made  their  journeys,  fighting  peaceable 
natives  and  perpetrating  upon  them  glaring  atrocities  in  some  cases ; 
assailed  and  massacred  by  the  original  possessors  of  the  soil  in  others ; 
one  expedition  plundering  and  murdering  the  red  men  ;  another  seeking 
to  pacify  and  to  convert  them  to  the  religion  of  the  Roman  Church ; 
one  band  with  prayer  book  and  the  offerings  of  peace  ;  the  other  with 
sword  and  torch  and  the  ever  ready  proclamation  of  indiscriminate  war. 

From  the  swift  influx  into  the  new  land  with  its  hapless  people, 
of  civilization  with  its  benefits  and  its  evils,  the  mind  may  digress  long 
enough  to  note  a  touch  of  human  nature  in  connection  with  an  incident 
that  led  to  an  important  development.  Among  the  early  emigrants 
from  Spain,  who  sought  to  improve  their  condition  on  the  isles 
discovered  by  Columbus  on  his  first  voyage,  was  Nunez  de  Balboa. 
He  landed  at  Hispaniola  and  began  life  there  in  a  small  way  as  a 
farmer.  The  venture  proved  unfortunate,  the  emigrant  farmer  becom- 
ing involved  in  debt.  With  creditors  about  him,  and  the  spectacle  of 
a  Spanish  dungeon  before  his  eyes,  the  bankrupt  induced  some  sympa- 
thizing friends  to  hide  him  in  a  hogshead,  label  it  "  victuals,"  and 
place  it  on  board  a  ship  bound  for  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  When  the 
vessel  was  at  sea,  beyond  the  reach  of  the  money  lenders,  the  fugitive 
pushed  the  lightly  fastened  head  from  the  cask,  and  rose  before  captain 
and  crew  a  towering,  living,  human  form,  much  to  their  astonishment, 
and,  as  history  records,  not  a  little  to  their  fright.  He  reached  the 
Isthmus  of  Darien,  now  Panama,  where  he  landed,  and  having  made 
himself  agreeable  to  the  Indians,  married  a  Princess  of  one  of  the 
tribes  and  thereby  became  rich  in  gold  and  silver,  a  condition  doubtless 
not  unwelcome  after  his  experience  at  Hispaniola. 

In  the  course  of  time  he  heard  the  natives  speak  of  a  great  ocean 
to  the  west,  and  being  of  a  roving  disposition,  and  perhaps  fired  with 
a  zeal  to  distinguish  himself  by  some  important  discovery,  he  set  out 
with  a  large  expedition,  and  after  many  hardships,  reached  a  point 
from  which  was  spread  before  his  wondering  eyes  the  vast  Pacific. 
In  the  true  spirit  of  the  explorer  of  the  day,  he  called  upon  the  mem- 
bers of  his  party  to  witness  that  he  took  possession  of  the  ocean  in  the 
name  of  the  King  and  Queen  of  Spain.  This  was  in  fifteen  hundred 
and  thirteen,  or  fifteen  years  after  the  third  voyage  of  Columbus,  which 
had  resulted  in  the  discovery  of  the  main  body  of  the  continent. 


House  Xo.  239  Arch  St.,  Avhere  the  first  American  flag  was  made  by  Mrs.  BETSY  Boss,  in  1777. 
The  flag  was  adopted  by  Congress  June  14,  1777. 


tn&IVBBSITY 


AMERIGO   VESPUCCI  17 


If  Columbus,  whose  zeal  and  spirit  had  been  summoned  to  under- 
go a  test  almost  superhuman,  prior  to  the  success  of  his  efforts  to  even 
secure  some  slight  consideration  of  the  project  which  resulted  in  the 
discovery  of  an  entire  hemisphere,  had  possessed  a  nature  less  benevo- 
lent and  simple,  it  is  probable  he  would  have  died  amidst  riches__and 
luxury,  and  been  borne  to  the  tomb  with  the  honors  befitting  his  genius, 
and  the  inestimable  value  of  his  services  to  Spain  and  to  the  world, 
instead  of  departing  his  life  in  exile  and  poverty,  with  his  remains 
fated  to  find  a  resting  place,  through  the  beneficence  of  charity,  on  one 
of  the  islands  which  his  enterprise  and  his  patience  had  added  to  the 
immensely  increased  dominion  of  the  Spaniard.  In.  the  rush  into  the 
new  land  of  adventurers  and  of  the  more  favored  representatives  of 
the  power  of  Spain,  followed  speedily  by  the  discovery  of  wealth  in 
gold  and  silver,  in  abundance  and  value  almost  beyond  the  power  of 
man  to  compute,  and  without  parallel  in  the  history  of  the  world,  the 
figure  of  the  original  voyager  was  lost,  and  his  acts  for  a  time  obscured 
by  the  magnificence  of  the  shining  riches  which  usurped  his  place  in 
the  mind  of  mankind.  It  would  perhaps  be  accepted  as  a  measure  of 
satisfaction  if  history  could  record  that  the  land  which  his  patience 
and  fortitude  revealed  to  civilization,  had  honored  his  achievement  by 
adopting  his  name,  but  even  this  slight  solace  to  the  memory  of  one 
who  died  a  victim  of  monstrous  ingratitude  was  denied.  In  the  year 
fourteen  hundred  and  ninety-nine,  one  year  after  Columbus  had  made 
his  third  voyage  and  discovered  the  main  body  of  the  country,  a  clever 
Florentine,  Amerigo  Vespucci,  paid  a  visit  to  wThat  is  in  this  day  the 
shore  of  South  America,  and  returning  home,  published  a  descrip- 
tion of  the  new  land  and  also  a  map  of  the  coast.  He  was  the  first 
person  in  Europe,  according  to  contemporaneous  authority,  to  express 
the  belief  that  the  strange  territory  was  not  a  portion  of  Asia,  but  a 
separate  continent.  This  view  of  the  subject  turned  the  tide  of  opinion 
in  the  old  world,  and  its  truth  having  been  soon  verified,  the  name  of 
Amerigo  in  connection  with  the  Columbian  land  supplanted  in  the 
minds  of  the  Europeans  that  of  Columbus  itself. 

During  the  entire  period  embracing  the  three  voyages  c  f  Columbus 
to  the  new  World,  the  mind  may  contemplate  with  satisfaction  the 
character  of  the  man,  his  abstinence  from  excesses,  his  toleration  in 
dealing  with  his  men,  and  the  moderation  displayed  in  his  treatment 
of  the  natives.  It  is  recorded  that  when  he  and  his  companions  landed 
among  the  strangers  on  the  occasion  of  his  first  voyage,  the  simple- 
minded  men  of  the  islands  fell  down  and  worshipped  them,  and  by 
various  manifestations  made  known  the  fact  that  they  regarded  them 


18  THE  STORY  OF  AN  AMERICAN  CITY. 

as  superior  beings.  There  is  no  act  of  record  in  the  life  of  Columbus 
that  would  give  rise  to  the  supposition  that  his  course  was  ever  different 
from  that  which  evoked  the  admiration  and  homage  of  the  native  pos- 
sessors of  the  soil.  In  his  disappearance  from  the  scene  of  action  and 
temporary  effacement  from  the  minds  of  men,  there  appears  to  be  nei- 
ther time  nor  opportunity  to  realize  the  importance  of  his  services,  nor 
the  shame  upon  a  nation  incurred  by  the  neglect  of  their  recognition, 
much  less  to  draw  contrasts  between  his  conduct  and  that  of  his  suc- 
cessors who  hastened  to  the  shores  which  his  enterprise  had  disclosed 
to  the  knowledge  of  his  kind. 

From  the  mild  and  gentle  character  of  the  discoverer,  with  his 
enlightened  and  considerate  methods  in  dealing  with  the  natives,  the 
mind  recoils  at  the  contrast  presented  by  the  blood-stained  monster, 
Cortez.  This  ruthless  destroyer  of  a  nation  of  enlightened,  industrious 
and  inoffensive  people,  sailed  from  Spain  with  six  hundred  soldiers  in 
the  year  fifteen  hundred  and  nineteen,  twenty-two  years  after  Columbus 
had  made  his  third  voyage,  and  landing  on  the  coast  of  the  land  now 
known  as  Central  America,  invaded  the  country  of  the  Aztecs,  the 
ancient  site  of  Mexico.  The  hitherto  happy  and  contented  people  re- 
ceived the  foreigners  hospitably,  provided  for  their  wants,  and  by  their 
docile,  submissive  spirit  should  have  won  the  friendship  and  protection 
of  the  barbarous  chief  of  the  Spaniards.  Cortez,  however,  had  entered 
their  land  for  spoils.  The  gold  and  silver  they  possessed  were  a  suffi- 
cient incentive  to  the  perpetration  of  massacre,  and  after  displaying  a 
spirit  of  benevolence  which  completely  disarmed  their  innocent  natures, 
he  was  conducted  with  his  men  to  the  capital  of  the  nation,  the  prede- 
cessor of  the  present  City  of  Mexico,  and  presented  to  the  Aztec  King. 
The  courtesy  and  hospitality  with  which  the  Spaniards  were  treated 
appeared  to  meet  with  proper  appreciation  for  a  space  of  time  sufficient 
to  enable  them  to  perfect  their  plans,  upon  which  the  King  was  mur- 
dered, hundreds  of  his  people  slaughtered,  and  the  remainder  only 
saved  by  flight  to  the  fastnesses  of  the  mountains,  where  their  barbar- 
ous assailants  could  not  follow  them.  Cortez  then  plundered  the  city, 
taking  all  the  gold  and  silver  to  be  found,  and  formally  possessed  him- 
self of  the  country  of  the  Aztecs  in  the  name  of  the  King  of  Spain. 

The  example  set  by  this  butcher  and  robber  was  worthily  imitated 
nine  years  later  by  Francis  Pizarro.  With  a  band  of  Spanish  soldiers 
he  invaded  Peru,  and  finding  there  a  peaceful,  intelligent  race  of  peo- 
ple ruled  by  Kings  or  Incas,  he  put  thousands  of  them  to  the  sword, 
killed  the  King  himself,  and  seized  the  land  and  untold  quantities  of 
gold  and  silver,  in  the  name  of  the  Sovereign  of  that  same  nation  which 


* 

7N 


THE  ATROCIOUS  ACTS  OF  CORTEZ.  21 


produced  the  bloody  Cortez.  These  ancient  people  were  further  ad- 
vanced in  the  arts  and  sciences  and  in  government  than  any  other  of 
the  races  discovered  by  the  Europeans  on  the  new  continent.  They 
had  cities,  temples  of  worship,  gardens  and  cultivated  farms,  the  pur- 
suit of  husbandry  being  attended  by  intelligent  methods,  especially  in 
the  matter  of  the  irrigation  of  the  soil  and  in  the  care  of  its  products. 
Their  skill  in  the  manufacture  and  decoration  of  pottery  remains  to 
this  day  reasonable  cause  for  astonishment  on  the  part  of  civilization, 
which  seeks  in  vain  for  the  source  of  their  art,  as  well  as  for  the  deri- 
vation of  their  race.  How  long  they  had  lived  in  peace  and  content- 
ment, worshipping  in  their  temples,  observing  obedience  to  their  laws 
or  customs,  free  from  the  influence  of  the  more  complex  civilization 
before  the  Spaniards  came  upon  them  and  with  a  savagery  that  finds 
few  instances  to  equal  it  in  the  world,  destroyed  their  homes,  laid  waste 
their  lands,  pillaged  their  towns  and  murdered  their  rulers,  remains  a 
mystery  to  this  hour. 

If  any  doubt  existed  as  to  the  purely  mercenary  object  of  the  in- 
vaders or  on  the  question  of  the  appalling  cruelty  of  their  character, 
it  would  be  in  all  probability  speedily  dispelled  by  the  reflection  that 
although  a  body  of  six  hundred  men  accompanied  Cortez  on  his  expe- 
dition against  the  Aztecs  of  ancient  Mexico,  and  a  following  almost 
equal  in  number  was  led  by  Pizarro  in  his  invasion  and  conquest  of 
Peru,  there  is  not  in  existence  at  this  day  out  of  the  entire  quota,  a 
single  recital  tending  to  show  the  habits,  the  customs,  or  the  manners 
of  the  people  whose  hospitality  they  enjoyed,  and  whose  routine  of  life 
and  domestic  economy  were  so  fully  open  to  their  judgment  and  obser- 
vation. The  world  might  in  a  degree  mitigate  its  censure  upon  the 
merciless  acts  of  these  blood-stained  Spaniards,  if  there  remained  any 
trace  of  a  redeeming  feature  in  the  nature  of  their  expeditions,  any 
evidence  of  a  reluctance  on  their  part  toward  resorting  to  the  deeds  of 
infamy  which  stand  in  their  name,  or  of  some  slight  disposition  among 
them  to  pause  in  their  fierce  pursuit  after  gold  to  note  and  retain  for 
the  benefit  of  civilization,  the  modes  of  life  and  the  peculiar  character- 
istics of  the  innocent,  but  ancient  people,  their  contact  with  whom 
afforded  such  rare  opportunity  for  obtaining  some  clue  to  their  age  and 
origin.  Columbus  on  his  return  from  his  first  voyage  carried  with  him 
several  of  the  natives  of  the  newly  discovered  islands,  treated  them 
kindly,  and  presented  them  before  the  Sovereigns  of  Spain.  That  Cor- 
tez or  Pizarro  evinced  the  slightest  interest  in  the  history  or  in  the 
character  of  the  unfortunate  race  which  their  barbarities  exterminated, 
there  remains  not  the  faintest  evidence,  but  in  grim  contrast  there  ex- 


22  THE  STORY  OF  AN  AMERICAN  CITY. 

ists  an  abundance  of  proof  to  establish  them  and  their  followers  in  the 
eyes  of  posterity  as  atrocious  murderers  actuated  from  the  beginning  to 
the  ending  of  their  exploits  by  the  absorbing  passion  for  gold. 

From  these  darkest  of  all  the  expeditions  of  pillage  and  blood- 
shed that  disturb  the  prospect  in  connection  with  the  early  dawrn  of 
knowledge  of  the  extent  and  character  of  the  strange  continent,  the 
mind  may  turn  to  new  and  striking  scenes  occurring  not  on  what  were 
destined  in  later  centuries  to  be  known  as  the  lands  of  Central  and 
South  America,  but  on  the  soil  of  what  came  to  be  known  as  the  nation 
of  the  American  United  States.     Twenty  years  after  the  invasion  of 
Mexico  by  Cortez,  and  eight  years  subsequent  to  the  conquest  of  Peru 
by  Pizarro,  a  companion  of  the  latter  in  his  expedition  against  the 
Aztecs,  Ferdinand  de  Soto,  set  out  under  a  royal  commission  from  Spain, 
with  a  band  of  six  hundred  men,  the  splendor  and  richness  of  whose 
equipment  wrere  well  calculated  to  dazzle  the  eyes  of  the  natives,  whose 
lands  and  possessions  in  silver  and  gold  were  the  prospective  prize. 
His    destination  was  the    vast  peninsula  discovered   seventeen  years 
before,  or  in   the  year  fifteen  hundred  and  twelve,  by  an  expedition 
of  Spaniards  under  Ponce  de  Leon,  an  old  soldier  and  former   com- 
panion of  Columbus,  named  by  the  veteran  Columbian  leader,  Florida. 
Ponce  de  Leon,  who  appears  to  have  possessed  all  the  gentle  and  con- 
siderate qualities  of  nature  which  characterized  Columbus,  his  former 
chief,  had  been  deeply  impressed  by  the  beauty  of  the  country.     Enter- 
ing upon  the  undisturbed  wilds  of  its  vast  territory  in  the  season  of 
Spring,  he  and  his  companions  were  treated  to  the  delightful  spectacle 
of  flowering  shrubs  and  vines  in  such  profusion  and  variety  that  the 
eye  was  dazzled,  and  the  brain  became  fairly  intoxicated  with  the  per- 
fume that  was  everywhere  wafted  upon  their  senses  by  the  languid  air. 
Not  in  the  flagrant  bloom  of  the  earthly  paradise  alone  did  the  charmed 
Spaniards  revel  and    felicitate,   but    across   their   vision    continually 
flitted  bright  winged  birds  in  numbers  and  variety  unlike  anything 
their  eyes  had  ever  beheld.     The  wild  natives  of  the  flowery  land 
treated  the  strangers  kindly,  and  true  to  the  example  set  by  Columbus 
in  the  first  instance  on  his  voyage  of  discovery,  their  confidence  and 
their  hospitality  were  not  abused  by  the  members  of  the  expedition 
under  Ponce  de  Leon.     In.  the  feeling  of  exaltation  and  unalloyed  de- 
light experienced  by  the  Spanish  chief,  it  is  not  difficult  to  realize  the 
plausibility  of  the  story  that  he  was  led  to  believe  there  existed  some- 
where in  the  beautiful  land  a  fountain  whose  waters  possessed  the  vir- 
tue of  restoring  youth  to  the  aged,  and  that  he  and  his  followers  searched 


I 


THE   EXPEDITION  OF   DE   SOTA.  25 

long  and  earnestly  for  the  magic  spring  and  returned  to  their  native 
land  keenly  disappointed  over  their  failure  to  discover  its  location. 

The  character  of  the  man  who  now,  after  a  lapse  of  seventeen 
years,  sailed  from  Spain  with  a  powerful  and  splendidly  caparisoned 
band  of  followers  for  the  land  first  revealed  to  Ponce  de  Leon,  was  some- 
what different  from  that  of  the  veteran  companion  of  ColumbusT  llis 
expedition  included  priests  with  the  emblems  of  the  church  and  black- 
smiths with  ample  means  for  providing  shoes  for  the  horses  of  the  sol- 
diers, and  for  repairing  and  sharpening  their  weapons.  They  likewise 
brought  with  them  a  herd  of  swine  with  which  to  furnish  subsistence 
in  the  strange  and  untried  land. 

The  party  reached  Tampa  Bay  on  the  west  coast  of  the  Peninsula 
in  the  year  fifteen  hundred  and  thirty-nine.  De  Soto  made  no  effort  to 
conceal  to  the  minds  of  the  natives  the  fact  that  he  came  among  them 
for  conquest.  The  gay  plumes,  shining  armor  and  gorgeous  banners 
of  the  soldiers  and  the  high  floating  image  of  the  cross  carried  by  the 
priests  in  their  sable  garbs  must  have  produced  a  remarkable  effect  upon 
the  simple-minded  savages  who  were  numerous  on  every  hand.  They 
met  the  Spaniards  at  first  in  a  spirit  of  submission  and  awe  and  offered 
to  worship  them.  The  stern  de  Soto  with  his  eyes  bent  solely  on  dis- 
covery and  conquest  did  not  delude  them,  but  commanded  them  to 
"pray  only  to  God  in  Heaven."  True  to  his  training  under  the  blood- 
stained Pizarro,  the  Spanish  leader  treated  the  natives  with  the  greatest 
cruelty.  Many  were  killed,  their  villages  burned  and  their  possessions, 
when  they  were  of  value,  taken  by  the  ruthless  hands  of  the  soldiers. 
The  acts  of  de  Soto  soon  aroused  the  hostility  of  the  natives.  The  ex- 
pedition finally  reached  the  section  of  country  now  embraced  in  the 
State  of  Alabama,  and  on  the  site  of  the  present  City  of  Mobile  a  battle 
was  fought  with  the  Indians,  which  proved  most  disastrous  to  the  na- 
tives. Eighteen  Spaniards  were  killed  and  the  number  of  natives  slain 
was  upward  of  two  thousand  five  hundred.  The  event  occurred  in  the 
year  fifteen  hundred  and  forty. 

The  adventurers  pressed  on  in  the  direction  of  northwest,  seeking 
for  gold  and  silver  and  failing  to  find  any.  In  the  year  fifteen  hundred 
and  forty-one  they  came  to  the  broad  Mississippi,  and  there  de  Soto  re- 
corded the  discovery  of  what  proved  to  be  the  largest  river  in  the  world. 
He  did  not  survive  to  enjoy  the  honor  of  conveying  the  news  of  his 
achievement  to  Spain,  but  was  seized  with  a  fever,  the  result  of  enfeebled 
health  arising  from  worry  and  disappointment  over  the  failure  of  cher- 
ished expectations  in  connection  with  his  search  for  gold,  and  in  a  few 
days  expired  on  the  bank  of  the  great  stream.  His  companions,  after 


26  THE  STORY  OF  AN  AMERICAN  CITY. 

the  solemn  rites  of  the  church  had  been  performed  over  his  remains, 
wrapped  his  mantle  about  him,  and  taking  the  body  out  to  the  middle 
of  the  river,  sunk  it  in  the  unsounded  depths  that  it  might  not  fall 
into  the  hands  of  the  Indians. 

There  are  few  things  in  the  history  of  the  Western  Continent  more 
impressive  or  tragic  than  the  melancholy  ending  of  the  great  expedition 
of  de  Soto.  The  high  expectation  and  the  pride  of  Spain  were  centred 
in  the  undertaking.  Cortez  in  Mexico  and  Pizarro  in  Peru  had  found 
gold  and  silver  in  quantity  almost  fabulous,  and  for  years  the  Spanish 
ships  groaned  with  the  weight  of  the  precious  metals  which  were  trans- 
ferred from  the  ownership  of  an  inoffensive  and  once  happy  people  to 
the  gaping  coffers  of  the  Spaniards.  De  Soto  had  feasted  his  eyes  on 
the  untold  wealth  of  shining  metal  in  Peru,  and  doubtless  acquired 
the  notion  that  other  and  equally  rich  races  or  communities  of  people 
were  to  be  found  all  over  the  vast  area  of  the  New  World.  That  others, 
including  the  rulers  of  Spain,  were  possessed  of  the  same  idea  there  can 
be  no  reasonable  ground  for  doubt.  The  previous  discoveries  had  daz- 
zled their  eyes  and  intoxicated  their  senses.  Nothing  in  the  shape  of 
an  expedition  to  the  new  country  was  too  rash  to  propose  or  too  expen- 
sive to  undertake.  The  trappings  of  wealth  and  the  emblems  of  grand- 
eur and  power  which  characterized  the  array  of  de  Soto  were  evidence 
of  the  gracious  favor,  in  which  he  and  his  object  were  held  by  the  Span- 
ish crown.  That  the  prayers  of  the  accompanying  priests  were  at  once 
a  solace  to  their  misfortunes  and  an  incentive  to  their  hopes  there  can 
be  no  question ;  nor  can  it  be  doubted  that,  after  weary  months  of 
journeying  through  seemingly  endless  wilds,  encountering  wondering 
natives  destitute  of  the  riches  which  the  eager  hunters  sought,  the 
Spaniards  became  irritable,  and  were  only  too  prone  to  perpetrate  upon 
the  innocent  objects  of  their  disappointment  the  atrocities  which  every- 
where mark  their  progress  from  Tampa  Bay  to  the  eastern  shore  of  the 
great  river,  where  their  leader  yielded  up  his  life  and  whose  waters 
received  his  mortal  remains. 

The  death  of  de  Soto  occurred  in  the  year  fifteen  hundred  and 
forty-two,  or  three  years  after  his  departure  from  Spain.  His  unfortu- 
nate companions,  long  since  discouraged  and  no  more  deluded  by  the 
expectation  of  finding  gold,  thought  only  of  their  native  land  and  of 
how  they  could  best  get  out  of  the  accursed  country.  They  crossed  the 
river,  well  knowing  it  would  be  death  to  all  to  return  by  the  way  they 
came,  since  they  had  committed  so  many  acts  of  cruelty  upon  the  na- 
tives, and  after  wandering  for  months  through  trackless  forest  and  en- 
during almost  incredible  hardships,  they  finally  reached  the  plains  of 


RETURN  OF  THE   SURVIVORS. 


29 


what  is  now  the  vast  state  of  Texas.  Disheartened,  broken  in  health 
and  wjth  little  hope  of  seeing  ever  again  their  homes  in  Spain,  they 
turned  in  a  northeasterly  direction  and  after  many  weeks  of  travel 
through  swamp  and  jungle  and  unbroken  wilds,  they  came  once  again 
to  the  shore  of  the  great  Mississippi.  With  fervent  thankfulness  -and 
renewed  hope  they  set  to  work,  constructed  boats,  embarked  on  the 
rapid,  unknown  river  and  after  jnany  perils  reached  the  coast  of  Mexico 
and  ultimately  the  West  Indias,  the  party  numbering  about  one-half 
the  band  which  had  set  out  from  Spain  three  years  before  with  such 
bright  dreams  of  conquest  and  glory  in  connection  with  their  inva- 
sion of  the  new  land  in  which  their  leader  had  found  not  gold  and 
silver,  but  an  unknown  grave. 


CHAPTER   II. 

ENTERPRISE  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  NEW  LAND— EXPEDITIONS  OP  VERRAZANI-ANP 
CARTIER— SECOND  VOYAGE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT— DISCOVERY  OF  THE  ST.  LAWRENCE 
—FRANCE  FORMS  THE  FIRST  COLONY  IN  THE  NEW  COUNTRY  WHICH  PROVES  TEM- 
PORARY—MASSACRE OF  FRENCH  SETTLERS  BY  THE  SPANIARDS— THE  ACT  AVENGED 
BY  THE  FRENCH. 

IN  the  process  of  colonization  experienced  by  the  new  land  during  the 
period  of  one  hundred  and  ninety  years,  or  from  the  time  of  the 
first  voyage  of  Columbus  until  the  date  of  the  founding  of  Phila- 
delphia, the  methods  and  the  traits  of  the  several  enlightened  nations  of 
the  Old  World  were  illustrated  with  unusual  clearness  and  force.  The 
attempts  in  the  earlier  instances  to  form  settlements  and  the  failures 
were  not  confined  to  any  single  nationality, — the  Spanish,  the  French, 
the  English,  the  Dutch,  and  the  Swedes  alike  encountering  obstacles 
and  suffering  misfortunes  of  a  grave  and  discouraging  nature.  The 
Spaniards,  at  the  outset,  were  favored  with  the  distracting  and  pleasing 
experience  of  having  spread  before  their  eyes  and  placed  within  the 
ready  grasp  of  their  power  the  immense  treasure  of  Mexico  and  Peru, 
and  such  ideas  and  plans  as  they  may  have  previously  entertained  in 
connection  with  the  forming  of  colonies  and  the  establishing  of  their 
authority  in  the  vast  territory  that  began  with  the  peninsula  of  Florida, 
were  supplanted  for  a  number  of  years  by  the  occupation,  more  imme- 
diately profitable,  of  unearthing  and  transporting  gold  and  silver  in 
untold  quantities  to  the  shores  of  Spain.  In  the  glare  of  the  suddenly 
discovered  riches  and  in  the  felicity  of  realizations  beyond  the  scope  of 
their  previous  imagination,  they  lost  sight  of  the  importance  of  continu- 
ing the  exploration  of  the  new  world  and  of  insuring  for  the  Spanish 
crown  the  great  area  of  land  reaching  from  the  Mexican  Gulf  north- 
ward to  the  cliffs  of  Maine  ;  a  land  which  they  could,  without  difficulty, 
have  seized  and  possessed,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  other  nations 
of  Europe  were  at  this  time  sending  expeditions  to  different  points  on 
the  coast  of  North  America.  The  Spaniards  claimed,  it  is  true,  the 
entire  region  of  Florida,  on  the  inviting  shore  of  which  Ponce  de  Leon 
had  first  laid  eyes  in  fifteen  hundred  and  twelve,  seven  years  before  the 
invasion  of  Mexico  by  Cortez.  The  return  of  the  old  Spanish  chief  to 
his  native  clime  and  the  lapse  of  several  years  had  not  sufficed  to  ex- 
tinguish in  his  mind  the  yearning  to  live  over  again  the  delightful 

(33) 


34  THE  STORY  OF  AX  AMERICAN  CITY. 

experience  of  his  first  visit  to  the  fragrant  land,  and  he  finally  came 
back  at  the  head  of  a  company  with  the  pleasant  expectation  of  found- 
ing a  colony.  The  cruelty  of  some  of  his  countrymen  who  had  visited  the 
coast  a  short  time  before  his  arrival,  and  seized  a  number  of  the  natives 
and  carried  them  to  San  Domingo  where  they  were  sold  into  slavery,  had 
changed  the  disposition  of  the  red  men,  and,  to  the  surprise  and  dismay 
of  the  old  Columbian  voyager,  instead  of  finding  himself  and  his  party 
received  with  the  friendliness  and  hospitality  of  former  years,  they  were 
confronted  by  a  band  of  fierce  and  determined  warriors,  and  compelled 
to  fight  for  their  lives.  In  that  battle  Ponce  de  Leon  and  almost  all  his 
companions  were  killed.  This  disaster  had  a  discouraging  effect  on 
the  purpose  of  Spain,  and  no  further  effort  was  made  to  establish  the 
power  of  the  crown  in  the  new  land  until  the  time  of  the  arrival  of  de 
Soto  at  Tampa  Bay  in  fifteen  hundred  and  thirty-nine.  The  tragic 
end  of  this  chief  and  the  failure  of  his  expedition  had  left  the  Span- 
iards forty-seven  years  after  the  first  expedition  of  Columbus  without 
a  permanent  foothold  anywhere  on  the  soil  of  North  America. 

In  the  meantime,  while  the  Spanish  ships  were  employed  carrying- 
gold  and  silver  from  Mexico  and  Peru  to  enrich  the  kingdom  of  Spain, 
a  formidable  rival  was  steadily  acquiring  a  lodgment  on  the  new  con- 
tinent. The  power  and  the  interests  of  France  demanded  a  share  of 
its  vast  territory ;  and  in  the  year  fifteen  hundred  and  twenty-four 
Verrazani,  a  Florentine  captain,  sailed  from  the  country  of  the  French 
with  an  expedition  consisting  of  four  ships  and  several  hundred  men, 
with  authority  from  Francis  I.  to  explore  in  the  strange  land.  Arriv- 
ing off  the  shore  of  Florida,  he  proceeded  in  a  leisurely  way  to  famil- 
iarize himself  with  the  coast  of  all  the  country  northward.  His  voyage 
extended  to  Labrador,  and  was  attended  by  some  remarkable  discover- 
ies. It  is  recorded  that  off  the  coast  of  what  is  now  New  Jersey  one  of 
his  sailors  undertook  to  swim  ashore,  but  upon  his  close  approach  he 
found  the  bank  thronged  with  wondering  natives,  and,  in  his  endeavor 
to  return,  he  became  exhausted,  and  was  tossed  on  the  beach  in  a  state 
of  unconsciousness.  The  red  men  revived  him,  treated  him  kindly, 
and  allowed  him  to  return  to  his  ship.  His  account  of  the  people 
aroused  the  curiosity  of  Verrazani,  who  presently  visited  the  shore  in 
person,  and  was  received  with  friendliness  and  hospitality  by  the  Indians^ 
with  whom  he  spent  some  time  trafficking  and  gathering  knowledge  of 
the  country.  When  he  sailed  away  he  rewarded  their  confidence  and 
good  offices  by  stealing  and  carrying  off  a  native  child.  Ignoring  the 
pretensions  of  the  Spaniards  who  claimed  the  whole  of  the  new  country 
without  having  seen  any  portion  of  its  coast  beyond  Florida,  the  com- 


MRS.  BETSY  Ross, 
who  designed  and  made  the  first  American  fla?,  in  Philadelphia,  in  1777. 


THE   VOYAGE   OF   VERRAZANI  37 


mander  of  the  first  French  expedition  formally  took  possession  of  the 
entire  land,  north  of  the  region  discovered  by  Ponce  de  Leon,  in  the 
name  of  the  sovereign  of  France. 

The  voyage  of  Verrazani  and  its  results  were  hailed  as  a  great 
achievement  in  France,  and  served  to  further  stimulate  the  French  in 
their  desire  to  confirm  in  a  practical  way  their  claim  to  the  greater 
portion  of  the  distant  country.     Domestic  troubles  engrossed  the  atten- 
tion of  the  government,  however,  and  prevented  the  immediate  fitting 
out  of  a  second  expedition.     The  tardiness  of  the  Spaniards,  whose  in- 
terest was  wholly  absorbed  in  the  riches  of  Mexico,  precluded  the  possi- 
bility of  interference  from  that  quarter  with  the  plans  of  the  French, 
who  could,  without  opposition,  have  established  their  power  substan- 
tially along  the  vast  stretch  of  coast  from  the  northern  boundary  of 
Florida  to  Labrador.     The  English,  who  had  sent  the  Cabots  to  the 
new  land  in  the  year  fourteen  hundred  and  ninety-seven,  when  they 
discovered  Labrador  and  New  Foundland,  had  shown  no  disposition 
up  to  the  time  of  Verrazani,  and  for  a  period  long  subsequent  to  the 
expedition  of  the  French  under  that  leader,  to  enforce  any  claim  or  to 
extend  their  power  in  the  new  country.     That  they  had  not  lost  sight 
of  the  probability  of  the  arrival  in  the  future  of  an  opportunity  to  assert 
themselves  on  the  Western  continent,  was  evident  from  the  fact  that 
Sebastian  Cabot,  in  the  year  fifteen  hundred  and  eighteen,  twenty  years 
after  his  first  voyage  to  Labrador  and  six  years  prior  to  the  expedition 
of  Verrazani,  had  revisited  the  shore  of  the  new  land,  explored  the 
coast  from  Labrador  to  Florida,  and  with  grave  formality  had  claimed 
the  entire  country  for  the  English  crown. 

Here  then  were  the  bases  of  a  dispute,  of  a  conflict  of  claims  be- 
tween two  of  the  most  advanced  and  progressive  nations  of  Europe,  the 
direct  consequences  of  which,  in  the  course  of  one  hundred  years, 
proved  appalling  and  dreadful.  From  the  results  of  these  expeditions  of 
Sebastian  Cabot  and  Verrazani,  sprang  a  series  of  the  fiercest  and  most 
bloody  wars  known  in  the  history  of  the  new  world.  Long  after  the 
adventurous  navigators  and  the  youngest  of  the  voyagers  who  had  sailed 
with  them  had  passed  away,  and  the  early  achievements  and  power  of 
Spain  in  the  land  had  been  forgotten,  their  acts  on  behalf  of  their  re- 
spective sovereigns  bore  fruits  of  blood  and  slaughter,  the  horror  and 
enormity  of  which  cause  civilization  to  shudder  at  their  contemplation 
even  to  this  day.  In  that  era  of  bloodshed,  the  most  repellant  of  all  the 
periods  in  American  history,  the  mind  may  accord  to  the  French  the 
peculiar  distinction  of  having  availed  themselves  of  the  most  barbarous 
methods  conceivable  against  their  foes  and  the  hapless  settlers,  the  use 


38  THE   STORY   OF   AN   AMERICAN   CITY. 


of  savage  and  blood-thirsty  tribes  of  Indians  as  their  allies  in  fighting 
their  enemies  as  well  as  in  massacreiiig  thousands  of  innocent  and  help- 
less colonists. 

After  the  voyage  of  Verrazani  a  period  of  ten  years  was  allowed 
to.  elapse  before  the  French  undertook  to  confirm  by  a  second  expedition 
their  claim  to  the  new  land.     In  the  year  fifteen  hundred  and  thirty- 
four,  the  government  sent  out  another  exploring  party  under  the  com- 
mand of  Jacques  Cartier.     This  leader  possessed  some  of  the  character- 
istics of  his  Florentine  predecessor,  one  of  wrhich  was  an  inclination  to 
practice  bad  faith  in  dealing  with  the  natives.     He  sailed  along  the 
coast  of  the  new  country  until  he  reached  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence, 
when  he  displayed  the  quality  of  the  explorer  and  of  the  daring  navi- 
gator alike,  by  entering  the  unknown  estuary  and  voyaging  onward. 
Ascending  the  swift-flowing  river  St.  Lawrence  he  came  finally  to  an 
Indian  settlement  on  the  site  of  the  present  city  of  Montreal.     The 
spectacle  of  the  wondering  natives,  dressed  in  the  skins  of  beasts,  living 
in  tents,  or  huts  made  from  the  bark  of  the  birch  tree,  and  wearing 
ornaments  fashioned  from  the  shells  'of  fishes  and  the  bones  of  animals, 
was  sufficient  to  attract  the  attention  and  arouse  the  curiosity  of  the 
French,  and  they  decided  to  proceed  no  farther.     It  was  the  beginning 
.of  winter  when  they  arrived  at  the  native  town  and  they  resolved  to 
remain  until  spring.     The  Indians  received  them  hospitably,  provided 
for  their  wants,  traded  with  them  and  in  various  ways  manifested 
toward  them  a  friendly  spirit.     The  stay  of  Cartier  and  his  party  with 
these  friendly  people  who  were  ruled  by  a  Chief  and  who  were  well 
supplied  with  food  and  means  of  shelter,  during  the  long  and  rigor- 
ous months  from   autumn  until    spring  was  productive  of  an  unusual 
amount  of  valuable  information  in  connection  with  that  portion  of  the 
country,  its  resources  and  its  population.     It  might  be  supposed  that 
on  leaving  the  hospitable  tribe,  there  would  be  displayed  on  the  part  of 
the  French  some  evidence  of  gratitude.     Cartier  evinced  his  sense  of  the 
obligation  incurred  by  seizing  the  Indian  Chief  and  forcibly  carrying 
him  to  France.     In  the  meantime,  he  had  with  the  usual  formality, 
laid  claim  to  all  the  land  in  the  name  of  his  sovereign. 

The  supine  attitude  of  the  Spaniards,  and  the  absence  of  opposition 
from  the  English,  emboldened  the  French  in  their  schemes  in  the  new 
land.  They  not  only  regarded  themselves  as  masters  of  all  the  terri- 
tory north  of  Florida,  but  they  began  to  display  evidence  of  a  dispo- 
position  to  include  in  their  possessions  a  portion  of  Florida  itself.  In 
the  course  of  time  they  made  preparations  to  form  colonies  in  the 
strange  country,  and  while  it  was  the  fate  of  the  French,  after  the 


VSBSITY 


THE    FRENCH    PROTESTANTS. 


lapse  of  a  little  more  than  a  century,  to  be  compelled  to  relinquish 
every  foot  of  ground  they  possessed  in  the  new  world,  they  are  entitled 
to  the  credit  of  having  established  the  first  settlement  on  the  soil 
"North  America,  and  of  having  constructed  on  the  strange  land  the 
earliest  stronghold,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  colony  was^  not 
permanent. 

The  persecution  of  French  Protestants  about  the  year  fifteen  hun- 
dred and  sixty,  produced  a  state  of  terror  and  dread  on  the  part  of  a 
considerable  element  of  the  people  and  the  glowing  accounts  which  the 
voyagers  gave  of  the  attractions  of  the  western  world,  caused  the  mem- 
bers of  the  unhappy  sect  to  look  with  longing  eyes  toward  the  shores 
of  the  land  where  they  could  live  in  peace,  and  worship  in  accordance 
with  the  promptings  of  their  spiritual  nature. 

In  the  year  fifteen  hundred  and  sixty-two  a  large  party  of  Protest- 
ants, under  a  commander  named  Ribault,  sailed  from  France  and 
landed  on  the  northern  portion  of  Florida.  The  place  selected  for  the 
settlement  was  along  the  banks  of  the  pleasant  river  St.  John.  While 
the  colonists  occupied  themselves  building  houses  and  taking  up  land 
in  the  balmy  region  Ribault  proceeded  to  the  island  of  Port  Royal,  off 
the  coast  of  the  present  State  of  South  Carolina,  and  constructed  a  fort 
which  he  named  Port  Carolina.  Having  completed  his  work  and  sur- 
veyed it  to  his  satisfaction,  he  conceived  his  mission  in  the  new  land 
complete  and  sailed  for  France.  The  departure  of  the  leader  from  the 
shore  of  the  wild  country,  and  with  him  the  power  and  prestige  of  the 
mother  land,  produced  a  sense  of  loneliness  and  desolation  on  the 
helpless  colonists,  and,  after  yearning  for  their  native  clime  for  the 
period  of  a  year,  they  set  to  work,  constructed  a  ship  and  sailed  for 
France.  The  vessel  was  faulty  and  the  provisions  scarce,  and  but  for 
the  timely  appearance  of  an  English  man-of-war  it  is  probable  the 
unfortunate  settlers  would  not  have  survived  to  relate  their  experience 
on  the  banks  of  the  St.  John.  They  were  taken  on  board  the  English 
vessel  in  a  half-starved  condition  and  in  the  course  of  time  were  landed 
on  the  soil  of  France. 

The  failure  of  the  first  attempt  to  found  a  colony  on  the  distant  land 
did  not  discourage  the  boundless  enterprise  of  the  French.  With  the 
experience  of  the  original  party,  scarcely  a  year  removed,  a  second 
company  sailed  for  the  new  world  under  the  leadership  of  Laudonnier, 
and,  governed  by  the  prevailing  notion  that  the  region  of  the  St. 
John  was  the  most  desirable  situation  for  a  colony,  they  established 
themselves  near  the  site  of  the  former  settlement.  The  venture  proved 
successful,  the  colonists  were  reasonably  contented,  the  soil  was  fruitful 


42  THE  STORY  OF  AN  AMERICAN  CITT. 


and  new  accessions  were  received  to  their  number.  There  was  every 
promise  of  the  ultimate  prosperity  and  of  the  extension  of  the  settle- 
ment when  an  unexpected  occurrence  changed  the  prospect  of  peace 
and  happiness  and  produced  in  its  place  bloodshed  and  slaughter  and 
the  total  extinction  of  the  colony. 

The  Spaniards,  who  had  neglected  for  so  long  a  period  of  time  to 
enforce  their  claim  to  the  right  of  possession  of  the  new  country, 
received  information  of  the  existence  of  the  settlement  of  French 
Protestants  in  Florida.  The  knowledge  was  sufficient  to  incense  a 
race  peculiarly  jealous  of  its  rights,  and  impatient,  in  the  conscious- 
ness of  priority  of  discovery,  of  interference,  and  in  the  year  fifteen 
hundred  and  sixty-five  a  fleet  was  dispatched  from  Spain  under  Me- 
lendez  with  orders  to  drive  the  intruders  from  the  land.  The  expe- 
dition reached  a  harbor  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  where  Melendez,  as  a 
preliminary  step  to  the  assertion  of  the  power  of  Spain,  proceeded  to 
build  a  fortress.  When  the  work  was  finished  the  place  was  designated 
as  St.  Augustine,  and  thus  was  laid  the  foundation  of  the  present  city 
of  that  name.  The  Spaniards  were  now  fully  aroused  to  the  impor- 
tance of  enforcing  their  former  claims  which  had  so  long  languished, 
and  to  the  necessity  of  establishing  colonies  in  Florida.  With  the 
building  of  the  fort  at  St.  Augustine  was  also  formed  the  nucleus  of  a 
settlement  under  the  auspices  and  the  power  of  Spain.  In  the  mean- 
time the  progressive  French  had  a  fleet  lying  off  the  northern  coast  of 
Florida,  south  of  the  French  stronghold  at  Port  Royal.  The  Spanish 
ships  had  not  been  long  at  St.  Augustine  before  the  French  vessels  put 
to  sea  to  attack  and  if  possible  destroy  the  entire  expedition.  To  the 
misfortune  of  the  French  a  storm  arose  and  their  ships  were  wrecked. 
The  exultant  Spaniards,  more  determined  than  ever  to  effectually  end 
French  encroachments  in  Florida,  made  their  way  through  the  forest, 
reached  the  colony  of  the  French  Protestants,  fell  upon  the  helpless 
settlers  and  massacred  them  all  with  the  exception  of  a  few  mechanics 
whom  they  reduced  to  slavery. 

This  atrocious  act  was  amply  revenged  three  years  later.  In  the 
year  fifteen  hundred  and  sixty-eight  Admiral  de  Gourges  sailed  from 
France  with  a  fleet  bound  for  the  coast  of  Florida.  He  reached  St. 
Augustine,  surprised  the  Spanish  garrison,  put  every  Spaniard  to  death, 
and  hanging  their  bodies  on  trees  placed  upon  each  a  placard  inscribed, 
"I  do  this  not  as  unto  Spaniards,  but  as  unto  traitors,  robbers  and 
murderers." 


CHAPTER  III. 

ADVENT  OF  THE  ENGLISH  TO  THE  NEW  CONTINENT— EARLY  EFFORTS  TO  FORM  NEW 
COLONIES  AND  THEIR  FAILURE— THE  WANE  OF  THE  POWER  OF  THE  SPANIARDS- 
DISAPPEARANCE  OF  THE  SETTLERS  AT  ROANOKE— THE  FIRST  PERMANENT  COLONY 
AT  JAMESTOWN. 

FROM  the  standpoint  of  the  American  race,  that  portion  of  the 
history  of  the  new  world  in  its  long  and  troublesome  period  of 
colonization  and  settlement  which  marks  the  advent  of  the 
English,  must  ever  be  regarded  as  the  beginning  of  a  newer  and 
brighter  epoch  in  the  experience  of  its  slow  and  uncertain  development 
under  the  guardianship  of  fretful  and  contentious  nations,  the  irritant 
clashing  of  whose  claims  and  the  harshness  of  whose  protests  are  not 
rendered  more  agreeable  by  the  realization  of  the  fact  that  the  ever- 
recurring  controversies  are  waged  by  disputants  who  severally  speak 
a  strange  tongue,  and  who  are  possessed  of  manners  and  customs  in 
many  respects  widely  different  from  those  of  the  people  who  gave  to 
the  Americans  their  language,  and,  in  the  main,  their  customs,  which 
are  essentially  the  same  in  the  lands  of  the  two  races  in  this  day. 

With  the  massacre  of  the  French  settlers  in  Florida,  the  Spaniards 
disappear  as  important  figures  in  the  history  of  the  colonization  of  the 
new  world.  Forced  by  the  aggressiveness  of  the  French  and  of  the 
English  to  confine  themselves  to  their  original  claim  of  Florida,  to 
Central  and  South  America  and  to  the  southern  portion  of  what  is  now 
the  coast  land  of  the  American  United  States  on  the  Pacific,  they  sub- 
side from  the  scene  of  the  approaching  investment  of  universal  interest 
and  tremendous  action  in  the  present  English-speaking  section  of  the 
Columbian  land ;  and  as  they  fade  from  view  to  the  narrow  limits  of 
their  remote  possessions  on  the  soil  of  North  America,  the  growing 
forms,  typical  of  two  of  the  most  powerful  nations  of  Europe,  loom 
clear  and  distinct  in  the  prospect,  unyielding  and  menacing  in  the 
attitude  of  their  ancient  rivalry  and  enmity,  the  scope  of  whose  influence 
and  effort  on  the  new  continent  is  destined  for  the  period  of  nearly  two 
centuries  to  be  only  limited  by  the  boundaries  of  the  land  itself. 

The  first  attempt  of  the  English  to  form  colonies  on  the  strange 
territory  were  attended  not  only  by  failure,  but  resulted  in  disaster  to 
the  settlers,  the  melancholy  fate  of  some  of  whom  constitutes  one  of 
the  most  gloomy  pages  in  the  history  of  the  efforts  of  the  Anglo-Saxon 

(45) 


46  THE  STORY  OF  AN  AMERICAN  CITY. 


race  in  the  direction  of  colonization  in  the  new  clime  in  the  closing 
years  of  the  sixteenth  century.  A  period  of  ten  years  had  elapsed  from 
the  time  when  De  Gourges  avenged  the  murder  of  the  French  colonists 
by  the  massacre  of  the  Spanish  garrison  at  St.  Augustine.  The  English 
throne  was  occupied  by  Elizabeth,  and  the  time  had  come  when  the 
nation  under  this  strong-minded  Queen  was  prepared  to  take  the  initial 
step  towards  asserting  its  right  to  the  land  first  beheld  by  Sebastian 
Cabot  in  the  year  fifteen  hundred  and  eighteen.  Sixty  years  from  the 
date  of  that  voyage,  in  fifteen  hundred  and  seventy-eight,  the  Queen 
granted  to  one  of  her  subjects,  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert,  a  patent  to  a 
large  portion  of  territory  lying  along  the  Atlantic  coast  north  of  Florida. 
An  English  expedition  had  visited  the  land  in  this  section  of  the  new 
country,  and  the  accounts  which  its  members  gave  of  the  distant  shore 
on  their  return  to  England  appear  to  have  impressed  Elizabeth.  Her 
unmarried  state  suggested  a  name  for  her  new  possessions  and  the  des- 
ignation, Virginia,  was  accepted  by  the  nations  of  Europe  during  the 
reign  of  this  sovereign  as  another  and  more  specific  title  for  the  greater 
known  portion  of  the  distant  territory. 

The  first  expedition  sent  to  the  new  coast  by  Gilbert  was  wrecked, 
and  all  those  who  sailed  on  the  unfortunate  voyage  perished.  This 
disaster  produced  a  feeling  of  dread  and  dismay  on  the  English  people, 
the  passage  of  ships  to  and  from  the  strange  land  being  regarded  as  a 
feat  attended  by  numerous  imaginary  dangers ;  and  for  a  period  of 
seven  years  no  further  effort  was  made  to  secure  settlers  for  the  Western 
World.  The  interest  on  the  part  of  England  in  the  untold  resources 
of  its  vast  area,  and  the  belief  that  it  possessed  riches  in  silver  and 
gold,  were  steadily  growing  among  the  subjects  of  Elizabeth,  and  the 
successor  to  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert  in  the  business  of  colonization  in 
America  appeared  in  the  person  of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh.  He  was  pos- 
sessed of  ample  means,  and  also  of  a  mind  unusually  progressive  and 
liberal,  and  his  faith  in  the  future  of  the  new  land  was  strongly  attested 
by  the  perseverance  and  energy  he  displayed  in  the  face  of  successive 
failures  to  establish  settlements  on  its  shore.  His  first  expedition  was 
sent  from  England  in  the  year  fifteen  hundred  and  eighty-five.  Profit- 
ing by  the  disastrous  result  of  the  enterprise  undertaken  by  Gilbert 
seven  years  before,  the  originator  of  the  second  attempt  to  form  a  set- 
tlement on  the  American  possessions  placed  a  fleet  of  stout  ships  under 
the  charge  of  an  experienced  commander,  Sir  Richard  Grenville. 
The  expedition  was  amply  provided  with  the  necessary  implements  for 
farming,  and,  to  the  credit  of  its  far-sighted  and  liberal  projector,  the 
several  hundred  colonists  were  likewise  furnished  with  a  generous  sup- 


w 
I 


*•'"        'tafcrrTTia*  '  *-»   *"*  *•»   «-*  e^     --     -     ^^M 

i^^m  ^^ggsS^fi , 

&t*A         ^:  Itf         >r-*J    •»<  •»'•»•»      ifesvV--    \\  .r 


THE  ROANOKE  SETTLERS.  49 


ply  of  food,  with  articles  of  furniture,  and  the  utensils  usually  employed 
in  housekeeping. 

The  destination  of  the  party  was  the  island  of  Roanoke  in  Albe- 
marle  Sound,  off  the  coast  of  the  present  State  of  North  Carolina.  They 
reached  this  place  in  safety,  disembarked  with  their  supplies,  and  with 
the  aid  of  their  commander  selected  the  site  for  the  settlement,  and 
proceeded  to  lay  out  the  ground.  Having  seen  the  party  established 
on  the  new  soil  in  a  place  where  fish  and  game  were  abundant,  and 
where,  under  ordinary  conditions,  by  the  exercise  of  industry  and 
patience,  the  success  of  the  experiment  would  have  been  reasonably 
certain,  Grenville  returned  with  his  ships  to  England. 

The  first  settlement  of  the  English  on  the  shore  of  America  bears 
a  resemblance  in  one  respect  to  the  mournful  experience  of  the  expedi- 
tion of  the  Spaniards  forty-six  years  before  under  the  leadership  of  the 
ill-fated  de  Soto.  The  delusive  hope  of  finding  gold,  arising  from  a 
knowledge  of  the  discoveries  in.  Mexico  and  Peru,  proved  to  be  the 
motive  which  had  prompted  a  considerable  portion  of  the  company  to 
sail  from  England,  and  the  pursuit  of  agriculture  was  treated  as  a 
matter  of  secondary  importance.  In  the  new  country,  with  the  source 
of  supply  of  the  necessaries  of  life  no  nearer  than  England,  there  could 
be  but  one  result ;  and  when  the  unfortunate  colonists  were  almost  on 
the  point  of  perishing  from  starvation,  the  renowned  English  com- 
mander, Sir  Francis  Drake,  with  a,  fleet  bound  from  the  West  Indies 
to  England,  touched  at  Roanoke,  learned  the  condition  of  the  settlers, 
and,  yielding  to  their  entreaties,  took  them  all  on  board  and  sailed  for 
the  home  land.  The  imaginative  mind  may  enjoy  diversion  in  pictur- 
ing the  sensation  of  surprise  and  of  dismay  experienced  by  Sir  Richard 
Grenville  when  he  arrived  at  the  site  of  the  original  colony  a  few  weeks 
later  with  ships  laden  with  supplies  and  found  the  place  wholly  aban- 
doned, with  the  buildings  and  such  evidences  of  labor  as  the  settlers 
had  left,  unmolested,  yet  without  any  trace  that  would  lead  to  an  ex- 
planation of  the  mystery  of  their  disappearance. 

In  the  desire  and  zeal  of  the  English  to  effect  a  settlement  in  the 
new  country,  they  appear  to  have  given  small  consideration  to  the 
question  of  the  character  and  disposition  of  the  natives.  Proceeding 
by  methods  different  from  the  ways  of  the  Spaniards,  they  landed  on 
the  strange  coast  without  the  trappings  or  the  menace  of  war,  selected 
the  location  of  their  proposed  colony,  constructed  their  rude  dwellings, 
entertaining  in  the  meanwhile  no  ambitious  schemes  of  conquest  and 
subjugation.  They  were  colonists,  and  not  warriors.  The  power  and 
the  arms  of  the  nation  which  owned  them  as  subjects  were  busy  assert- 


50  THE  STORY  OF  AN  AMERICAN  CITY. 


ing  its  rights,  extending  its  sway,  meeting  challenges  and  redressing 
grievances  among  its  equals, — the  civilized  races  of  Europe, — and  to 
the  lasting  glory  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  name,  it  made  no  wanton,  un- 
provoked war  on  the  uncivilized  red  men  of  the  vast  country  which 
afterward  came  so  completely  into  its  possession.  Methodically, 
orderly,  patiently,  and  with  close  observance  of  details,  the  English 
reared  the  structure  of  almost  universal  dominion,  not  by  means  simi- 
lar to  those  which  destroyed  the  Aztecs  of  Mexico  and  Peru,  but  by  the 
enlightened  and  humane  scheme  of  colonization. 

The  tolerance  of  the  English  nation  toward  the  natives  of  the  new 
land  may  appear  singular  in  view  of  the  injuries  inflicted  by  the  red 
men  upon  the  early  settlers.  When  Sir  Richard  Grenville  found  the 
colonists  at  Roanoke  had  disappeared,  he  left  a  dozen  men  with  adequate 
provisions  to  look  after  the  interests  of  the  settlement  and  returned  to 
England.  Two  years  later,  in  fifteen  hundred  and  eighty-seven,  an- 
other expedition  arrived  in  Albemarle  Sound  with  a  considerable  com- 
pany of  emigrants,  including  men  with  their  wives  and  children.  It 
speaks  well  for  the  courage  and  perseverance  of  this  second  party  of 
colonists  that,  when  they  reached  the  settlement  at  Roanoke  and  found 
strewn  upon  the  ground  the  bones  of  the  men  who  had  been  left  in 
charge  of  the  place  by  Sir  Richard  Grenville  and  nothing  of  the  rude 
fort  which  had  been  constructed  for  their  defense  save  its  ruins,  they 
determined  to  remain,  although  this  evidence  of  the  barbarity  and  the 
inclination  of  the  natives  could  not  be  misunderstood.  They  proceeded 
without  loss  of  time  to  construct  houses.  In  the  matter  of  provisions, 
both  for  food  and  for  the  means  of  labor,  they  were  supplied  on  a  generous 
basis ;  and  there  were  also  among  them  a  number  of  mechanics,  espe- 
cially carpenters.  In  honor  of  the  projector  of  the  enterprise,  it  was  pro- 
posed to  build  a  city  and  call  it  Raleigh,  a  purpose  that  was  afterward 
effected,  but  not  under  the  auspices  of  these  unfortunate  early  colonists. 

The  ships  which  carried  this  second  party  of  emigrants  to  the 
strange  shore  returned  to  England  and  there  was  no  further  communi- 
cation by  the  mother  country  with  the  Albemarle  colony  for  the  period 
of  three  years.  In  the  year  fifteen  hundred  and  ninety  some  English 
vessels  arrived  with  letters  and  provisions.  The  melancholy  revelation 
of  a  settlement  without  the  trace  of  a  former  inhabitant,  and  with  every 
evidence  of  ruin  and  decay,  was  not  calculated  to  furnish  cheerful  in- 
telligence to  carry  back  to  England,  especially  when  it  is  considered 
that  the  destroyed  colonists  had  been  neglected  by  their  friends  and  the 
English  nation  for  a  length  of  time  that  could  not  but  severely  reflect 
on  the  humanity  of  both. 


THE  BIRTH  OF  VIRGINIA  DARE. 


This  was  the  end  of  the  effort  to  form  a  settlement  at 
The  news  of  the  fate  of  the  colonists  occasioned  a  sensation  ai  ^ 
duced  an  unfavorable  impression  of  the  new  land  in  England.  Whe&Ujj*1 
they  were  massacred  on  the  spot  or  taken  to  the  settlement  of  the  In- 
dians and  put  to  death,  or  whether  they  constructed  a  ship  and  under- 
took to  sail  for  the  mother  country  and  perished,  are  questions  that 
must  be  ever  left  to  conjecture.  An  interest  of  a  special  character  is 
involved  in  their  disappearance  owing  to  the  fact  that  with  them  was 
the  first  English  child  born  on  the  soil  of  America,  an  infant  named 
Virginia  Dare.  A  pleasant  conceit  has  found  its  way  into  historical 
appendices  in  connection  with  the  mystery  of  the  taking  off  of  these 
settlers,  and  the  imagination  may  find  solace  in  the  somewhat  vague 
tradition  that  the  colonists  were  adopted  by  the  Hatteras  tribe  of  Indians 
and  ultimately  became  as  the  natives  themselves,  a  disposition  of  the 
problem  that  is  more  pleasing  to  the  fancy  than  it  is  creditable  to  the 
reason,  which  might  ponder  in  vain  for  an  explanation  of  the  art  that 
would  enable  the  red  men  to  gather  into  their  tribe  almost  one  hundred 
English  men,  women  and  children,  and  within  a  space  of  time  some- 
what less  than  a  generation,  leave  no  evidence  of  the  coalition  of  the 
two  races  to  be  discovered  by  the  enlightened  people  who  afterward 
became  numerous  in  the  land. 

Elizabeth,  the  progressive  and  enlightened  Queen,  passed  away 
and  the  problem  in  England  of  forming  a  colony  in  America  that 
would  endure,  had  not  been  solved.  The  mystery  of  the  lost  settlers 
of  Roaiioke  troubled  the  minds  of  the  English  people  for  many  years. 
There  were  no  Sir  Humphrey  Gilberts  or  Sir  Walter  Raleighs  to  under- 
take singly  any  more  the  hazardous  enterprise  of  founding  a  settlement 
on  the  wild  and  uncertain  territory.  They  too  had  passed  from  the 
scene  of  worldly  action,  and  the  whitening  bones  of  the  ill-fated  portion 
of  Sir  Richard  Grenville's  crew,  on  the  distant  shore  of  Albemarle,  were 
a  vivid  reminder  of  the  perils  of  colonization  on  the  lonely  coast.  The 
courage  and  the  resources  of  persons  individually  were  not  equal  to  the 
task  that  seemed  to  be  involved  in  any  attempt  to  settle  and  develop 
the  strange  country,  though  the  fertility  of  the  soil  and  the  excellence 
of  the  climate,  which  were  known  to  yield  that  plant  of  singular  prop- 
erty and  growing  adaptation,  tobacco,  were  universally  recognized. 
The  speculative  minds  of  the  English  refused  to  forget  the  allurements 
of  a  financial  nature  which  the  land  possessed,  and  the  risks  to  human 
life  in  the  home  of  the  red  men  seemed  to  lose  something  of  their  mag- 
nitude as  the  affair  of  the  vanished  colonists  became  more  remote.  In 
the  meanwhile,  the  power  and  the  greatness  of  England  had  been 


54  THE  STORY  OP  AX  AMERICAN  CITY. 


steadily  growing ;  and,  keeping  pace  with  her  universal  development 
was  the  idea  of  the  necessity  of  promoting  her  interests  in  the  colonies. 

This  sentiment  resolved  itself  finally  into  action  on  the  part  of 
certain  subjects  of  James  I.,  and  the  London  Company  received  an 
ample  charter  from  that  King,  granting  it  the  right  to  make  settlements 
on  the  coast  of  North  America,  between  Florida  and  Nova  Scotia.  The 
issue  of  the  grant  in  the  year  sixteen  hundred  and  six,  a  period  of  six- 
teen years  after  the  failure  of  the  scheme  at  Roaiioke,  was  followed  di- 
rectly by  preparations  on  an  unusual  scale  for  securing  colonists.  The 
corporation,  profiting  doubtless  by  the  mistakes  made  in  the  selection 
of  men  on  the  occasion  of  the  several  expeditions  of  Raleigh,  exercised 
circumspection  in  making  up  the  party  of  one  hundred  and  five  persons 
who  sailed  on  this  voyage.  The  company  included,  as  some  of  its  most 
important  members,  half  a  dozen  carpenters  and  masters  of  other  trades, 
provided  with  the  materials  and  implements  for  building  houses.  That 
the  corporation  had  been  careful  to  organize  the  enterprise  in  such 
manner  as  to  enable  it  to  retain  and  exercise  control  over  the  prospective 
colony,  was  shown  by  the  fact  that  it  prepared  the  draft  of  a  form  of 
government,  selected  the  officers  who  were  to  govern,  and  sent  them, 
fully  invested  with  their  authority  in  London,  with  the  company  of 
emigrants  with  whom  they  were  to  constitute  the  new  settlement.  The 
promptness  with  which  the  party  was  made  up  and  sent  011  its  mission, 
indicates  forcibly  the  practical  sense  and  business-like  methods  of  the 
promoters  of  the  enterprise.  The  expedition  was  fitted  out  and  ready  to 
sail  in  December  of  the  year  in  which  the  charter  had  been  obtained  ; 
and  in  May  of  the  year  following,  sixteen  hundred  and  seven,  the  colo- 
nists arrived  off  the  coast  of  Virginia.  Avoiding  that  region  with  which 
was  associated  the  unknown  fate  of  the  missing  settlers,  they  sailed 
northward  until  they  entered  the  blue  waters  of  the  great  bay  of  the 
Chesapeake,  and  saw  for  the  first  time  the  evidence  of  the  varied  forms 
of  vegetation  in  the  profusion  of  budding  and  blooming  trees  and 
plants  on  the  low-lying  Virginian  shore.  Their  sensations  as  they  gazed 
on  the  strange  land,  contemplative  and  curious  on  the  question  of  tha 
site  of  their  future  home,  may  be  supposed  to  have  been  peculiar  and 
not  entirely  devoid  of  a  sense  of  dread  in  connection  with  the  prospect 
of  encountering  various  unknown  perils. 

When  they  left  the  broad  expanse  of  the  bay  and  sailed  up  a  large 
and  finely  shaded  river  the  realization  of  their  near  approach  to  the 
beginning  of  the  great  experiment  of  their  lives  impressed  them,  and 
brought  vividly  to  their  minds  the  fact  of  their  prospective  position  of 
isolation  and  comparative  defencelessness.  The  destination  of  the 


THE   SETTLEMENT   OF   JAMESTOWN.  57 


leader  of  the  expedition,  Captain  Newport,  was  a  portion  of  Virginia 
that  would  afford  a  navigable  stream  not  too  far  from  the  coast,  and  in 
which  the  soil  would  be  favorable  for  the  cultivation  of  tobacco.  He 
found  what  he  deemed  to  be  the  proper  location  about  thirty  miles 
from  the  bay  of  the  Chesapeake  on  the  bank  of  the  stream  described ; 
and  upon  the  English  sovereign  was  bestowed  the  double  honor  of 
having  his  name  perpetuated  in  the  christening  of  both  the  river  and 
the  site  of  the  future  town. 

The  history  of  Jamestown,  of  the  trials  of  these  colonists  who 
formed  the  first  permanent  settlement  of  the  English  on  the  soil  of 
North  America,  with  a  reference  particularly  to  their  encounters  with 
the  Indians,  and  to  the  exploits  of  Captain  John  Smith,  who  finally 
became  president  of  the  council  which  ruled  the  colony,  and  whose  life 
was  saved  by  Pocohantas,  the  daughter  of  the  native  chief,  Powhatan, 
embodies  the  most  thrilling  of  the  experiences  of  early  settlers  in  the 
new  land.  The  settlement  grew,  and  the  pursuit  of  agriculture  was 
followed  diligently.  The  great  staple  article  produced,  however,  was 
tobacco.  The  growing  demand  for  this  article  in  the  markets  of  Lon- 
don caused  Jamestown  to  be  looked  upon  for  a  time  as  the  coming 
centre  of  commerce  in  the  New  World,  and  after  a  lapse  of  several 
years  English  ships,  bringing  such  articles  as  the  domestic  economy  of 
the  colonists  required,  began  to  be  seen  with  more  frequency  in  the 
waters  of  the  Chesapeake  and  of  the  James.  They  brought,  in  a  num- 
ber of  instances,  scores  of  young  women  as  wives  for  the  colonists,  the 
expense  of  whose  passage  was  gladly  paid  by  their  future  husbands  in 
tobacco.  In  this  manner  the  London  Company  insured  the  growth 
and  permanency  of  the  settlement.  Within  the  period  of  fifteen  years 
from  the  landing  of  the  first  expedition  and  the  founding  of  Jamestown, 
the  colony  had  four  thousand  members.  A  government,  representative 
in  its  character,  had  been  formed,  its  members  being  elected  by  the 
people,  and  Jamestown  attained  to  the  dignity  of  the  possession  of  an 
assemblage  known  as  the  House  of  Burgesses.  Thus  they  succeeded,  after 
a  series  of  attempts  covering  a  period  of  twenty-nine  years,  in  founding 
a  permanent  settlement  in  the  New  World.  Thenceforth,  for  one  hun- 
dred and  eighty-five  years,  the  history  of  the  country  is  the  history  of 
the  progress  of  the  English  and  of  the  French  on  its  soil,  and  of  the 
wars  which  finally  occurred  between  the  two  nations,  resulting  in  the 
evacuation  of  the  territory  by  France,  leaving  the  English  in  undis- 
puted possession  of  the  land  with  the  exception  of  the  small  sections 
embracing  Florida,  Louisiana,  and  the  possessions  of  the  Spaniards  on 
the  coast  of  the  Pacific  ;  the  transfer  of  which  ultimately  to  the  United 


58  THE  STORY  OF  AN  AMERICAN  CITY. 


States  of  America  is  a  matter  of  history  comparatively  recent,  and 
unaccompanied,  happily,  by  the  necessity  of  any  recital  involving  the 
shedding  of  blood  in  the  slaughter  of  war. 

The  studious  mind  will  note  the  character  of  these  first  English 
colonists,  the  circumstances  under  which  they  were  prompted  to  leave 
their  native  shore,  and  will  be  impressed,  in  a  retrospective  view  of  the 
development  of  the  American  race  from  the  standpoint  of  this  day,  by 
the  fact  of  the  marked  difference  between  the  Jamestown  settlers,  the 
founders,  practically,  not  only  of  Virginia  but  of  the  Southern  race  in 
the  United  States,  and  their  Puritan  fellow-countrymen,  who  followed 
them  to  the  new  land,  but  not  to  the  same  genial  and  inviting  region 
on  its  soil.  If,  in  the  course  of  several  centuries,  the  outcropping  of 
sharp  antagonism  between  the  descendants  of  the  two  sets  of  colonists 
is  noticed,  the  fact  should  be  recalled  of  the  difference  in  the  character 
of  the  men  composing  the  first  two  English  settlements  in  America, 
although  natives  of  the  same  soil,  and  of  the  dissimilarity  of  motives 
which  prompted  them  to  emigrate  from  the  mother  land. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  HIGH  PLACE  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  EXPLORATION  AND  DISCOVERY  ON  THE  Nww  CON- 
TINENT OCCUPIED  BY  THE  ITALIANS— THEIR  INTELLIGENCE  AND  EXEMPLARY  CON- 
DUCT—THE ADVENT  OF  THE  DUTCH  AND  THE  PURITANS— PENN  AND  THE  FOUNDING  OF 
PHILADELPHIA. 

IN  the  era  of  early  exploration  and  discovery  on  the  New  Continent 
the  impartial  mind,  in  a  review  of  important  events  and  large 

revelations  transpiring  before  the  wondering  gaze  of  Europe,  must 
invariably  concede  no  small  share  of  credit  to  be  due  on  the  part  of 
civilization  to  the  Italians.  Their  performance  in  the  vast  field  of 
action,  the  development  of  which  in  a  measure  changed  the  history 
of  the  world  and  marked  a  distinct  epoch  in  the  progress  of  mankind, 
places  the  sons  of  the  descendants  of  the  Caesars  in  advance  of  the  other 
races  of  the  earth  with  respect  to  the  original  conception  and  the  de- 
monstration of  great  truths  relative  to  the  existence  and  to  the  nature 
of  the  new  land.  Columbus,  the  Italian,  conceived  and  carried  into 
effect,  by  means  of  immense  patience  and  perseverance,  an  idea  so 
original  and  novel  that  his  simple  statement  of  its  nature  was  sufficient 
to  arouse  a  doubt  in  the  matter  of  his  sanity.  The  trials  he  experi- 
enced and  the  steadfast  adherence  to  the  truth  of  his  convictions  he 
exhibited  under  circumstances  that  appeal  to  the  humane  and  softer 
traits  of  the  nature  of  man,  are  not  to  be  contemplated  without  realiz- 
ing a  sense  of  strong  emotion.  The  story  of  his  discouragements,  his 
rebuffs,  his  disappointments,  and  of  the  patience  and  unwavering  faith 
in  the  justness  of  his  belief  and  of  the  cause  that  cost  him  so  much 
misery  of  mind  and  soul,  and  finally  of  the  stupendous  triumph  of  his 
idea  and  of  his  efforts,  is  without  parallel  perhaps  in  the  history  of 
mankind.  If  Italy  had  done  no  more  than  contribute  to  the  welfare 
of  the  world  the  genius  of  this  patient  and  persevering  man,  its  claim 
to  the  gratitude  of  the  human  race,  as  well  as  to  the  place  of  honor 
among  the  nations  of  the  earth,  would  have  been  complete. 

As  if  to  present  before  the  eyes  of  the  world,  however,  an  example 
of  the  spirit  and  the  fibre  of  the  descendants  of  the  ancient  Romans,  an 
inexorable  fate  seems  to  have  decreed  that  those  nations  of  the  earth 
which  were  destined  to  possess  for  a  period  of  almost  two  centuries  the 
entire  extent  of  the  Western  Continent  should  stand  in  the  relation  of 
debtors  for  their  vast  acquisition,  to  the  intelligence,  the  foresight,  the 

(61) 


62  THE  STORY  OF  AN  AMERICAN  CITY. 


integrity  and  the  undaunted  daring  of  the  Italians.  Directly  in  the  wake 
of  Columbus,  inspired  by  the  results  of  his  first  voyage,  arise  the  figures 
of  John  and  Sebastian  Cabot,  father  and  son,  Venetians,  known  to  the 
shipping  interests  of  Bristol,  England  ;  and  soon  their  several  ships  are 
ploughing  the  seas  under  a  royal  commission  from  Henry  VII  in 
search  of  unknown  lands,  islands  or  provinces.  Their  undertaking 
involved  many  risks,  grave  responsibilities,  and  a  large  outlay  of  money 
none  of  which  was  furnished  by  the  Crown,  the  commission  stipulating 
that  the  explorers  should  voyage  at  their  own  expense,  a  condition 
which  does  more  credit  to  the  shrewdness  and  thrift  of  the  English 
king  than  it  does  to  his  benevolence.  The  Cabots  reached  the  main- 
land at  Labrador  in  June,  fourteen  hundred  and  ninety-seven,  one 
year  and  two  months  before  Columbus  reached  the  continent  on  his 
third  expedition,  and  thus  discovered  the  eastern  coast  line  of  the  new 
land,  which  was  afterward  fully  explored  on  a  second  voyage  by 
Sebastian. 

This  voyage  of  the  Italians  gave  to  England  its  claim  to  the 
greater  portion  of  the  continent.  Two  years  after  the  first  discovery  by 
the  Cabots  and  six  months  from  the  time  of  the  third  voyage  of 
Columbus,  another  native  of  Italy,  possessed  of  much  of  the  same 
studious  and  philosophic  quality  of  mind  as  the  latter,  created  through- 
out Europe  a  sensation  equal  to  those  produced  by  his  three  fellow- 
countrymen  by  a  voyage  of  exploration  to  the  new  coast  which  resulted 
in  enlightening  the  world  and  revealing  to  civilization  one  great  fact 
in  connection  with  the  Columbian  land.  Amidst  the  confusion  and 
the  excitement  in  Europe  incident  to  the  discoveries  by  Columbus  and 
by  the  Cabots  there  was  one  mind  which  remained  calm  and  collected, 
suspended  judgment  on  the  question  of  the  identity  of  the  strange 
territory,  and  finally,  to  satisfy  all  doubt,  undertook  a  voyage  to  the 
distant  coast.  Landing  on  its  southern  portion,  Amerigo  Vespucci 
pursued  a  careful  investigation  into  the  nature  and  the  climate  of  the 
new  shore,  and  in  the  course  of  time  amply  confirmed  the  belief  he 
had  entertained  that  it  was  in  no  way  connected  with  India.  Having 
thus  taken  the  most  direct  means  of  settling  the  question  he  returned 
to  Europe,  and  civilization  again  realized  that  it  owed  a  debt  of  grati- 
tude to  one  of  the  race  of  Italy.  Verrazani,  another  Italian,  by  his 
adventurous  voyage  from  Florida  to  Labrador  in  the  interest  of  the 
King  of  France,  gave  to  the  French,  as  a  result  of  his  expedition,  a 
claim  which  enabled  them  to  possess  one-half  the  continent  for  a 
period  of  almost  two  hundred  years. 

In  these  great  exploits  of  the  early  voyagers,  at  a  time  when  the 


THE  FOUNDING  OF  NEW  AMSTERDAM.  65 


adventurous  and  warlike  of  other  nations  were  seizing  the  natives  of 
the  strange  land  and  carrying  them  off  to  be  sold  into  slavery,  or 
driving  them  by  fire  and  sword  from  their  possessions  that  they  might 
possess  their  silver  and  gold,  the  moral  sense  of  the  Italians  shines 
above  reproach.  They  were  not  alone  explorers,  but  humane,  scientific 
men  arid  philosophers.  Their  ambition  was  to  enrich  mankind  by 
great  discoveries,  and  not  to  despoil  a  helpless  and  unenlightened  por- 
tion of  it  through  a  vulgar  greed  for  gold.  Thus,  while  the  greatest 
of  the  discoveries  of  the  world  stand  in  the  Italian  name,  no  act  of 
misconduct,  no  perversion  of  power,  destroy  the  lustre  that  distin- 
guishes in  the  annals  of  history  the  high  position  of  this  advanced  and 
polished  race.  No  greater  tribute  can  be  paid  to  its  genius  and  char- 
acter, perhaps,  than  to  say  that  had  the  matter  of  the  naming  of  the 
new  world  remained  for  a  period  in  abeyance  pending  the  decision  of 
the  question  of  the  right  of  Columbus  or  of  Vespucci  to  furnish  the 
term  of  its  designation,  the  result,  so  far  as  the  recognition  of  the  honor 
due  to  Italy  was  concerned,  would  have  been  inevitably  the  same. 
The  achievements  of  these  two  Italians  were  so  original  and  so  tremen- 
dous in  their  consequences  that  they  shone  to  the  remotest  comers  of  the 
earth  without  the  possibility  of  being  rivalled,  and  beyond  the  power 
of  future  acts  and  discoveries  on  the  part  of  persons  of  any  other  nation- 
ality producing  the  result  of  the  eclipse  of  their  glory  and  their  fame. 
Inseparably  joined  with  the  name  of  Columbus,  and  secure  in  their 
claim  011  posterity  to  lasting  honor,  are  the  characters  of  the  liberal 
and  enlightened  sovereigns  of  Spain,  the  progressive  Ferdinand  and 
the  gentle  Isabella,  who,  surrounded  by  a  dense  atmosphere  of  bigotry 
and  superstition,  possessed  the  breadth  of  nature  and  the  force  of  mind 
sufficient  to  place  them  in  advance  of  the  rulers  of  nations  as  the  sup- 
porters of  the  enterprise  of  the  lonely  Italian  which  brought  about  the 
most  stupendous  results  known  to  man  since  the  beginning  of  creation. 
From  the  time  of  the  first  Columbian  voyage  and  discovery  in 
fourteen  hundred  and  ninety-two  to  the  date  of  the  first  settlement  of 
the  English  at  Jamestown  in  the  year  sixteen  hundred  and  seven,  the 
interval  seems  long  and  the  progress  of  development  on  the  new  con- 
tinent tedious.  It  required  a  lapse  of  one  hundred  and  fifteen  years 
before  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  was  ready  to  devote  its  attention  steadily 
and  practically  to  the  business  of  colonization  on  the  Western  World. 
The  date  of  the  founding  of  Jamestown  marks  the  beginning  of  a  more 
simple  and  a  more  easy  course  in  American  history.  From  that  period 
the  mind  may  contemplate  the  steady  influx  into  the  new  territory, 
and  the  establishment  along  the  eastern  coast  of  the  country  from 


66  THE  STORY  OF  AX  AMERICAN  CITY. 


Florida  to  New  Foundland,  not  alone  of  the  English,  but  of  the  Dutch 
and  the  Swedes,  the  latter  two  races  of  which  have  a  place  of  impor- 
tance almost  equal  with  that  of  the  English  in  the  colonization  of  what 
are  now  the  Eastern  Middle  States.  In  the  perception  of  the  advan- 
tages offered  by  the  new  country  to  trade  and  to  commerce  the  Dutch 
were  especially  quick  and  enterprising.  With  the  example  before  their 
eyes  of  the  London  Company  and  its  colony  at  Jamestown  engaged 
in  the  business  of  raising  tobacco,  some  thrifty  men  in  Holland  organ- 
ized a  corporation  to  be  known  as  the  Dutch  Company,  and  sent 
forth  to  the  shores  of  the  new  land  an  experienced  Dutch  navigator 
named  Henry  Hudson.  He  sailed  in  a  small  ship  of  only  eighty  tons 
burthen,  and  penetrating  the  long  and  dangerous  passage  of  what  is 
now  known  as  the  Narrows  entered  the  sheet  of  water  which  was  des- 
tined, in  the  course  of  years,  to  be  known  as  the  Bay  of  New  York. 
This  event  occurred  in  the  year  sixteen  hundred  and  nine,  or  two  years 
after  the  establishment  of  the  colony  at  Jamestown.  The  mind  may 
follow  the  results  of  Hudson's  discoveries,  the  exploit  which  took  him 
up  the  river  that  afterward  received  his  name,  the  formal  taking  pos- 
session of  Manhattan  Island  and  the  founding  of  the  city  of  New  Am- 
sterdam, and  may  realize  that  the  English,  in  their  growing  colony  at 
Jamestown,  were  rapidly  acquiring  European  neighbors  in  the  strange 
territory.  The  Dutch  came,  not  as  warriors  seeking  conquest,  but  as 
merchants  and  traders.  They  settled  placidly  on  the  island  discovered 
by  Hudson,  and  began  to  do  an  active  business  in  bartering  rum  and 
other  products  of  civilization  with  the  Indians,  receiving  from  the 
natives  in  return  the  furs  of  animals  which  commanded  a  ready  sale 
at  high  prices  in  Europe ;  and  their  colony  grew  rapidly  in  population 
as  well  as  in  importance.  New  Amsterdam  was  founded  in  the  year 
sixteen  hundred  and  thirteen,  or  six  years  after  the  landing  at  James- 
town. 

The  influx  of  the  third  party  of  colonists  marks  the  beginning  of 
the  history  of  the  Puritans  in  the  Western  World.  Their  arrival  at 
Plymouth  in  the  year  sixteen  hundred  and  twenty,  thirteen  years  after 
the  landing  of  the  first  company  of  English  settlers  in  Virginia,  and 
seven  years  after  the  Dutch  founded  New  Amsterdam,  presented  the 
spectacle  of  three  distinct  colonies  in  North  America,  each  possessed  of 
marked  peculiarities  which,  had  they  all  settled  in  one  place,  would 
have  shown  them  to  be  anything  but  homogeneous.  Of  the  colonists 
at  Jamestown  and  at  Plymouth  respectively,  the  former  were  undoubt- 
edly the  most  agreeable,  the  most  liberal  in  their  ideas,  and  the  most 
thoroughly  identified  with  the  institutions  of  England.  They  came  to 


TIN:  lorxpixu  OF  PHILADELPHIA.  69 


the  new  land,  in  some  instances,  from  the  love  of  travel  and  adventure, 
in  more  cases,  however,  for  the  purpose  of  making  themselves  rich  by 
farming  and  growing  tobacco,  but  in  no  instance  for  the  sake  of  their 
conscience.  The  religion  of  what  in  time  became  the  Established 
Cl lurch  was  sufficient  for  their  spiritual  needs,  and  they  troubled  neither 
their  own  minds  nor  the  peace  and  comfort  of  their  neighbors  over  new 
doctrines,  excess  of  zeal,  or  indulgence  in  fanaticism.  They  acquired 
large  plantations,  experienced  delight  in  the  possession  of  spirited 
horses,  -and  laid  the  foundation  of  a  benign  and  agreeable  social  life 
which  has  endured  to  this  day. 

The  austere  class  or  sect  that  landed  on  the  dreary  shore  of  Massa- 
chusetts had  not  departed  from  their  native  soil  through  the  love  of 
adventure,  nor  yet  at  the  prompting  of  any  desire  for  the  possession  on 
the  new  land  of  increased  riches.  The  Puritans  were  at  war  with  the 
established  form  of  worship  in  their  own  country,  and  with  many  of  its 
customs  and  its  institutions.  They  went  forth  to  create  a  world  of  their 
own,  and  were  firmly  averse  to  the  admission  into  their  company  of 
any  person  or  set  of  persons  not  of  their  own  belief,  or  not  in  sympathy 
with  their  extreme  interpretation  of  the  divine  mission  with  which  they 
were  invested  011  earth.  Their  fierce  intolerance  of  the  Quakers  stands 
in  early  American  history  as  one  of  the  most  marked  examples  of  the 
barbarity  of  fanaticism  to  be  found  in  the  records  of  civilization. 
Springing  from  the  same  soil  and  suffering  the  same  forms  of  persecu- 
tion, the  plight  of  the  two  sects  were  strikingly  similar  ;  yet  how  differ- 
ent the  spirit  of  one  in  its  manifestation  toward  the  other !  After  a 
lapse  of  thirty-six  years  from  the  time  of  the  landing  at  Plymouth,  or 
in  the  year  sixteen  hundred  and  fifty-six,  the  zealous  and  determined 
sect  enacted  a  decree  prohibiting,  on  the  part  of  captains  of  ships,  the 
bringing  of  Quakers  to  Puritan  soil  under  penalty  of  fine  and  imprison- 
ment. For  the  Quakers  themselves  were  reserved  somewhat  more 
severe  forms  of  punishment.  If,  by  any  mischance,  an  adherent  of  the 
doctrines  of  Fox  was  found  in  the  Massachusetts  colony,  the  victim 
might  contemplate  the  prospect  of  an  experience  either  at  the  whipping 
post,  iii  the  House  of  Correction,  or  at  hard  labor  for  the  benefit  of  the 
community,  or  the  possibility  of  the  three  penalties  combined.  These 
inflictions  for  the  sake  of  the  Puritan  religion  may  appear  mild  in 
comparison  with  the  method  prescribed  by  a  later  decree  for  insuring 
the  colonists  against  the  contaminating  influence  of  the  objectionable 
sect,  and  any  magistrate  or  official  vested  with  authority  could  have 
the  satisfaction  of  exercising  one  of  the  functions  of  his  office  by  boring 
a  hole  in  the  tongue  of  a  Quaker  with  red  hot  iron  if  the  intruder  was 


70  THE  STORY  OF  AN  AMERICAN  CITY. 

unlucky  enough  to  be  apprehended.  Baptists  and  Jesuits  were  like- 
wise under  the  ban  of  Puritan  displeasure,  the  whipping  post  being 
reserved  for  the  former,  while  the  latter,  in  the  event  of  their  return 
after  having  been  once  driven  out,  were  to  be  put  to  death. 

Thus  the  second  English  colony  on  the  Western  World  evinced  its 
disposition  to  avail  itself  of  the  opportunity  which  the  new  land  afforded 
to  live  and  worship  according  to  its  doctrines,  free  from  the  persecution 
of  the  fanatics  of  its  native  soil.  The  records  of  its  progress  are  so  re- 
plete with  accounts  of  the  apprehension,  the  trial  and  the  burning  of 
witches,  the  execution  of  malefactors,  the  flogging  of  non-followers  of 
the  Puritan  faith  and  the  punishment  of  heretics  generally,  that  the 
mind  is  apt  to  find  itself  in  a  state  of  bewilderment  in  the  effort  to  dis- 
cover how  it  managed  to  find  time  in  the  intervals  of  the  prevailing 
task  of  punishing  persons  of  other  religious  belief  and  of  supposed 
malign  influence,  in  which  to  pursue  the  ordinary  vocations  of  life. 

In  the  meanwhile,  the  colony  at  Jamestown  and  the  Puritans  at 
Plymouth  remained  the  only  two  English  settlements  on  the  New 
Continent,  possessed  in  each  instance  of  a  marked  and  distinctive 
peculiarity,  until  the  arrival  of  the  Quakers  under  the  colonization 
scheme  of  Penii  and  the  founding  of  Philadelphia.  This  event  oc- 
curred in  the  year  sixteen  hundred  and  eighty-two,  sixty-two  years 
after  the  landing  of  the  Puritans  on  the  Massachusetts  coast  and 
seventy-five  years  subsequent  to  the  settlement  of  the  first  English 
colony  at  Jamestown.  The  persecuted  adherents  of  the  faith  of  Eox 
were  not  the  first  Europeans  who  sailed  up  the  Delaware.  The  Swedes 
had  been  011  the  land  bordering  on  the  shore  of  the  great  river  for  a 
period  of  almost  fifty  years.  They  had  followed  the  pursuit  of  agri- 
culture, living  on  friendly  terms  with  the  Indians,  and  were  reasonably 
contented  and  happy.  Their  houses  were  originally  caves  dug  in  the 
banks  of  streams  or  on  the  sides  of  the  hills ;  and  it  is  a  matter  of 
record  that  they  lived  in  these  primitive  dwellings  in  comfort  and 
peace,  sharing  with  the  natives  the  fruitful  land  and  maintaining 
toward  them  a  spirit  of  neighborly  intercourse.  In  their  presence  in 
the  strange  country,  so  far  from  their  native  coast,  the  Swedes  were 
not  voluntary  colonists.  They  had  been  transported  from  the  home 
land  for  various  offences  of  omission  and  commission,  one  of  the  most 
prevalent  being  non-observance  of  the  regulation  which  obliged  them 
to  enlist  in  the  army.  They  were  not  alone  in  their  voyage  to  the 
new  shore,  but  enjoyed  the  society  of  some  companions  in  misery  in 
the  persons  of  certain  nomadic  Finns,  the  grievance  of  the  government 
of  Sweden  against  whom  appears  to  have  had  its  origin  in  their  habit 


MASONIC  TEMPLE. 


'21U7BESIT7 


THE    THIRTY   YEARS'  WAR.  73 


of  living  the  life  of  squatters  in  the  land  of  their  adoption  and  of  de- 
stroying the  forests.  That  the  reigning  house  of  Sweden  had  in  view 
the  scheme  of  acquiring  possessions  in  the  New  World  there  can  he  no 
doubt ;  and  the  plan  of  forced  settlements  on  its  soil  would  possibly 
have  given  the  Swedish  sovereign  a  claim  upon  the  land  settled  by  his 
subjects  had  he  been  in  a  position  to  enforce  it,  but  the  Thirty  Years' 
war  absorbed  the  attention  and  the  energy  of  his  government,  and 
the  lonely  colonists  on  the  shores  of  the  Delaware  were  left  to  take  care 
of  themselves.  Of  thrifty,  steady  habits,  these  early  settlers  became 
attached  to  the  places  on  the  new  territory  where  they  established 
their  homes,  and  throughout  the  period  of  the  great  change,  which 
came  later  when  the  representatives  of  Penn  arrived  from  England 
with  the  necessary  authorization  to  make  effective  the  extensive  grant 
of  land  to  the  leader  of  the  Quakers,  they  submitted  without  protest  to 
the  new  rules  and  customs  introduced  by  the  proprietor  and  his  agents, 
and  merged  their  interests  with  those  of  the  English  as  smoothly  and 
as  completely  as  if  they  had  been  bom  and  reared  on  the  same  soil. 


BROAD  STREET,  north  from  City  Hall. 


09  THX 

[Uiri7ERSITr] 
k 


CHAPTER  V. 

Tni3  STARTING  OF  PHILADELPHIA — ITS  RAPID  GROWTH  AND  THE  CAUSE  THEREOF — THE 
CHARACTER  OF  PENN  AND  OF  His  WORK — EARLY  EVIDENCE  OF  THE  CITY'G  GRKAT- 
NESS  AS  A  MANUFACTURING  CENTRE. 

JN  the  effort  to  obtain,  with  a  reasonable  degree  of  accuracy,  an  idea 
of  the  city  founded  by  Perm,  as  it  was  prior  to  the  close  of  the 
first  century  of  its  existence,  the  mind  should  divest  itself  of  such 
notions  and  prejudices  as  it  may  have  acquired  in  connection  with  the 
important  events  relating  to  the  history  of  the  nation,  that  render 
Philadelphia  memorable  and  place  it  first  on  the  list  of  cities  of  the 
new  world  wherever  there  is  knowledge  of  the  American  name.  From 
the  date  of  the  beginning  of  the  City  on  the  Delaware,  the  Western 
Continent  was  enabled  to  present  to  the  gaze  of  the  civilized  world  the 
example  of  a  settlement  which  neither  decreased  nor  languished,  but 
which  progressed  so  rapidly,  both  in  population  and  in  commercial 
enterprise,  as  to  prove  a  source  of  constant  wonder  to  captains  of  vessels 
and  to  seamen,  who,  on  the  occasion  of  every  return  voyage  from  Europe, 
marveled  at  its  growth  and  at  the  increase  in  number  of  various  useful 
interests.  When  Peim  landed  at  New  Castle  on  an  autumn  day  in  the 
last  week  of  October  in  the  year  sixteen  hundred  and  eighty-two,  the 
English  colony  at  Jamestown  had  been  in  existence  seventy-five  years. 
The  troubles  of  the  Virginia  settlement  had  been  incessant  and  dis- 
couraging, and  in  the  long  period  mentioned  there  had  been  times  when 
the  fate  of  the  settlers  was  a  matter  of  grave  doubt  and  the  duration 
of  the  colony  a  serious  problem.  In  the  year  sixteen  hundred  and 
twenty-two,  fifteen  years  after  the  landing  on  the  shore  of  the  James, 
the  settlement  possessed  four  thousand  persons.  Two  years  later  the 
colony  had  been  reduced  to  eighteen  hundred  inhabitants.  There  were 
new  accessions  in  the  year  sixteen  hundred  and  forty-four,  when  a  con- 
siderable force  was  sent  over  by  Cromwell.  The  difficulties  which  had 
harassed  the  Virginia  settlers  however,  did  not  end  with  this  infusion 
of  new  life  and  spirit  into  their  colony,  and  as  late  as  six  years  prior 
to  the  landing  of  Penii  011  the 'shore  of  the  Delaware,  and  sixty-nine 
years  after  the  founding  of  the  settlement  in  Virginia,  the  Indians,  by 
their  depredations,  brought  about  an  uprising  of  the  settlers,  who  made 
war  against  them  contrary  to  the  washes  of  Berkeley,  the  Governor  of 
the  Province,  the  direct  result  of  which  was  the  burning  and  total  de- 

(77) 


78  THE  STORY  OF  AN  AMERICAN  CITY. 


struction  of  Jamestown.  The  second  English  colony,  that  of  the  Puri- 
tans at  Plymouth,  likewise  encountered  a  harsh  and  trying  experience. 
Their  troubles  with  the  natives  were  numerous  and  their  sufferings  from 
the  rigors  of  the  climate  severe.  In  the  winter  of  sixteen  hundred  and 
twenty-nine,  nine  years  after  the  landing  of  the  Puritans,  two  hundred 
settlers  died  in  the  colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  and  one  hundred  more, 
disheartened  at  the  prospect  and  having  no  faith  in  the  future  of  the 
New  England  settlement,  returned  home.  Two  years  later,  in  sixteen 
hundred  and  thirty-one,  a  number  of  colonists  were  frozen  to  death, 
while  others  died  from  the  lack  of  proper  food  and  nourishment. 

In  marked  contrast  with  the  experience  of  the  first  two  English 
colonies  in  the  New  World  is  the  history  of  the  greatest  of  purely 
American  cities.  The  departure  from  his  native  land  of  the  proprietor 
of  Pennsylvania  and  the  founder  of  Philadelphia  was  followed  directly 
by  a  wave  of  immigration  of  such  force  and  volume  as  to  somewhat 
embarrass  the  surveyor  and  his  assistants  wrho  were  engaged  to  lay  out 
lots  on  the  site  of  the  future  town.  The  person  entrusted  with  this 
work,  Captain  Thomas  Holme,  had  preceded  Penn  about  six  months, 
having  sailed  from  England  under  commission  as  Surveyor  General  of 
Pennsylvania  on  the  23d  day  of  April,  sixteen  hundred  and  eighty-two. 
In  the  meantime,  the  cousin  of  the  proprietor,  who  had  been  commis- 
sioned Deputy  Governor  of  Pennsylvania,  William  Markham,  had 
reached  the  distant  land  in  October  of  the  previous  year.  The  mission 
which  had  taken  him  to  the  new  shore  in  advance  of  the  surveyor  and 
of  the  proprietor  himself  was  not  without  weight  and  responsibility  ;  and 
it  is  not  improbable  that  if  an  accurate  record  of  the  experience  of  the 
Deputy  Governor  in  the  pursuit  of  his  task  of  buying  from  the  Indians 
and  the  Swedish  settlers  the  claims  held  by  them  to  various  tracts  of 
land  embraced  in  the  proposed  boundaries  of  the  new  city,  could  be 
given  in  detail,  history  would  be  enriched  and  much  that  is  now  in 
doubt  concerning  the  state  of  advancement  and  the  extent  of  the  popula- 
tion of  the  Swedes,  who  had  been  in  the  land  for  upwards  of  fifty  years, 
would  be  rendered  more  clear. 

The  history  of  Philadelphia  and  of  Pennsylvania,  on  a  strict  con- 
struction of  the  sense  of  the  word,  properly  begins  with  certain  acts  and 
preparations  on  the  part  of  the  proprietor  in  the  Old  World.  Much 
has  been  written  in  the  course  of  two  hundred  years  concerning  William 
Penn.  A  study  of  his  character  as  it  is  manifested  in  his  letters  and 
in  those  of  his  friends  and  above  all  in  the  provisions  embodied  in  his 
"  frame  of  government,"  the  laws  devised  by  him  for  use  in  the  colony 
to  which  he  gave  his  name,  assuredly  does  not  present  him  in  the  light 


THE   CHARACTER   OF    PENN.  81 


of  the  stiff,  formal  person  represented  in  various  oil  paintings,  engrav- 
ings and  ancient  prints.  When  he  visited  America  in  the  year 
sixteen  hundred  and  eighty-two  he  was  not  over  thirty-nine  years  of 
age.  He  was  of  titled  stock,  his  father,  Sir  William  Penn,  having 
been  vice-admiral  in  the  English  navy.  A  handsome  young  man, 
faultless  in  form,  face  rather  pale  and  features  clear  cut,  with  d,-rp. 
brown,  earnest  eyes  and  dark  hair — such  is  the  picture  of  William 
Perm  at  thirty-nine  as  represented  in.  authentic  family  portraits.  Of 
deep  religious  feeling,  he  turned  from  the  gayeties  of  a  life  at  Court, 
much  to  the  chagrin  of  his  father,  who  had  high  worldly  hopes  in  con- 
nection with  his  career,  and  became  affiliated  with  the  Society  of 
Friends.  The  utmost  severity  on  the  part  of  the  stern  old  admiral,  the 
harshness  and  the  petty  persecutions  of  the  English  bailiffs  and  Justices 
of  the  Peace  failed  to  turn  the  young  man  from  his  chosen  religion.  He 
travelled  in  Germany,  in  Switzerland  and  in  other  lands  in  Continental 
Europe,  seeking  out  the  persecuted  of  various  forms  of  belief  and 
extending  to  them  comfort  and  aid.  His  work  for  a  time  was  that  of 
a  missionary.  He  published  tracts  and  circulated  them  widely,  employ- 
ing his  own  means  to  spread  the  doctrine  of  the  Society  of  Friends, 
suffering  odium  and  experiencing  many  petty  annoyances  on  account 
of  his  zeal  and  his  earnestness  in  upholding  the  religion  of  a  sect  that 
was  despised. 

In  spite  of  the  difference  in  character  and  in  religious  belief 
between  Penn  and  the  reigning  house  of  England,  he  was  liked  by  King 
Charles  II  and  by  his  brother  James,  Duke  of  York.  His  father,  the 
admiral,  had  rendered  some  service  to  the  King,  and  after  the  death  of 
the  elder  Penn  it  appeared  the  Government  was  indebted  to  his  estate 
to  the  amount  of  about  eighteen  thousand  pounds.  The  grant  of  a 
patent  for  the  land  embraced  in  the  territory  of  Pennsylvania  was  the 
payment  of  this  obligation. 

The  character  of  Penn  subsequent  to  the  grant  of  this  land  seems 
to  present  itself  in  a  new  aspect.  He  bends  his  energy  in  the  direction 
of  gathering  into  one  multitude  all  the  persecuted  and  the  wretched  of 
whatever  nationality  and  colonizing  them  on  his  American  possessions. 
In  view  of  the  benevolent  nature  of  the  man,  of  his  past  service  to  them 
in  their  hour  of  distress  and  of  his  well-known  disposition  as  the  friend  of 
the  oppressed  the  people  eagerly  read  his  pamphlets  and  circulars  which 
describe  the  advantages  of  the  soil  and  the  climate  of  Pennsylvania. 
In  his  colonization  scheme  the  warmth  of  his  nature,  his  enthusiasm 
and  also  his  disposition  to  be  carried  away  somewhat  by  his  sanguine 
temperament  are  clearly  illustrated.  The  Pennsylvania  grant  is  notthe 


82  THE    STORY   OF   AX   AMERICAN    CITY. 


only  land  he  possesses  in  America.  He  purchased  several  years  before 
an  interest  in  West  New  Jersey,  and  at  the  time  of  the  granting  of  the 
patent  by  Charles  he  was  one  of  the  proprietors  of  the  section  men- 
tioned. The  colonization  scheme  of  Penn  rings  throughout  the  com- 
munities of  the  persecuted  in  whatever  country.  From  quiet  Crefeld  on 
the  banks  of  the  Rhine  come  some  German  weavers  and  craftsmen, 
Quakers  and  Mennonites,  with  their  families.  This  was  the  beginning 
of  the  movement  in  the  way  of  German  immigration,  which  resulted  in 
the  founding  of  Germantown.  If  the  rapid  growth  of  Philadelphia 
should  seem  to  be  a  matter  of  surprise  it  will  not  be  out  of  place  to 
call  attention  to  the  number  and  the  variety  of  the  races  of  Europe 
represented  in  the  persons  of  the  hardy  immigrants  who  rushed  to  the 
Pennsylvanian  shore.  First  there  w^ere  the  English  Quakers,  Perm's 
friends  and  neighbors  ;  the  Welsh  Quakers,  the  German  Quakers,  the 
Irish,  the  Scotch-Irish,  the  Swiss,  the  Belgians,  a  few  French  and  some 
of  the  Dutch.  They  represented  many  different  forms  of  belief.  The 
sect  of  the  Quakers  was,  of  course,  predominant.  There  were  also 
Mennonites,  Tunkers,  Calvinists,  Huguenots,  Catholics  and  members 
of  the  English  Church. 

A  fact  in  connection  with  the  incoming  of  the  original  Philadel- 
phian  stock  is  worthy  of  notice.  The  settlers  did  not  voyage  to  the  new 
shore  with  any  false  notions  with  reference  to  the  land  or  the  climate. 
They  knew  what  to  expect  in  Pennsylvania.  The  proprietor  had 
represented  nothing  on  an  extravagant  scale.  His  pamphlets  and  his 
circulars  were  the  honest  work  of  a  man  inexorably  honest  and  just.  The 
emigrants  came  prepared  to  work  and  not  to  consume  their  time  in 
idleness.  In  a  brief  period  of  time  after  the  arrival  of  the  first  party, 
the  town  and  the  country  surrounding  were  well  supplied  with  skilled 
and  industrious  workmen  at  almost  every  useful  trade.  Wages  were 
high  and  there  was  plenty  of  work  for  all.  There  were  millers,  brewers, 
bakers,  blacksmiths,  butchers,  carpenters,  shoemakers,  tailors,  cabinet 
makers,  spinners,  weavers,  wheelwrights,  wagon  builders,  clock  makers, 
stone  masons  and  bricklayers  ;  an  immense  aggregation  of  brain  and 
muscle,  of  skill  and  industry,  of  energy  and  of  praiseworthy  ambition, 
and  behind  them  all  the  impelling  motive  to  improve  and  enlarge  their 
possessions  in  land  within  and  about  the  borders  of  the  city,  the  location 
and  environs  of  which  gave  promise  from  the  first  stage  of  its  existence 
of  its  future  greatness  among  the  commercial  and  social  centres  of  the 
world.  In  any  consideration  of  the  character  of  the  people  who  thus 
laid  the  foundation  of  Philadelphia  the  fact  should  be  ever  borne  in 
mind  that  they  were  all  thrifty  and  that  many  of  them  were  compara- 


s® 


T* 


THE  FUTURE  PROSPECTS  OF  PHILADELPHIA.  85 


tively  well  off  in  the  old  world.  They  came  with  money,  some  with  a 
considerable  amount,  others  with  not  so  much  and  others  yet  with  a 
very  little.  The  fact  should  not  be  overlooked  that  110  small  number 
of  these  first  Philadelphians  had  bought  their  land  from  Penn  in 
Europe,  dealing  either  with  the  proprietor  of  Pennsylvania  direct  or 
with  his  agents.  There  was  no  room  for  impecunious  settlers  or  I'm- 
squatters.  The  latter  class  could  find  110  place  on  the  site  of  the 
coming  city.  The  just  but  business-like  proprietor  valued  that  portion 
of  his  territory  which  was  to  be  the  scene  of  his  future  city  too  highly 
to  encourage  any  class  of  people  as  immigrants  save  those  who  had 
either  the  means  to  buy  when  he  sold  the  land  so  cheaply,  or  who  had 
with  their  industry  and  frugal  habits  the  promise  of  success  in  obtain- 
ing means  which  would  enable  them  to  possess  a  home  and  obtain  a 
comfortable  livelihood  in  the  new  world. 

The  wide  range  of  choice  which  Penn  exercised  in.  promoting 
immigration  to  his  colony  and  the  judicious  character  he  displayed  in 
selecting  the  fields  of  operation  speak  much  for  the  libei 
mind  as  well  as  for  his  knowledge  of  human  nature, 
have  been  wholly  devoid  of  narrowness  and  of  prejudice, 
hood  of  humanity  was  strongly  illustrated  in  his  acts  and 
ings  with  men.  It  mattered  not  that  persons  spoke  a  language^ 
from  that  of  his  own  land  if  they  were  persecuted,  devout  and 
seeking  to  rise  from  the  condition  in  which  the  circumstances  of  the" 
times  had  placed  them.  He  offered  asylum  to  them  all,  and  when  the 
current  of  immigration  started  in  the  several  countries  of  Europe  and 
converged  at*  Philadelphia,  on  the  western  shore  of  the  Delaware, 
resulting  in  the  almost  magical  rise  of  that  great  city,  there  was  the 
first  realization  of  what  afterwards  became  a  fact  of  universal  recogni- 
tion and  of  patriotic  sentiment,  the  demonstrable  truth  that  America 
was  the  home  of  the  persecuted  of  every  clime.  The  benevolent  heart 
and  the  generous  mind  of  Penn  gathered  into  the  colony  those  who 
were  attracted  to  him  on  account  of  his  shining  qualities,  and,  011  the 
theory  that  like  attracts  like,  the  first  American  city  was  built  on  a 
foundation  of  benevolence  and  of  liberality  which  have  characterized 
the  lives  of  its  people  through  all  the  generations  from  the  date  of  its 
formation  down  to  this  day. 

The  history  of  Philadelphia  in  the  early  period  of  its  existence, 
from  whatever  standpoint,  as  well  as  the  correspondence  of  the  day, 
abound  with  evidence  of  the  delight  experienced  by  strangers  on  first 
beholding  the  city  and  its  surrounding  territory.  The  care  with  which 
it  was  planned,  the  regard  displayed  for  the  health  and  the  comfort  of 


86  THE  STORY  OF  AN  AMERICAN  CITY. 

the  inhabitants  and  the  interest  evinced  for  the  welfare  of  citizens  gene- 
rally, are  among  the  most  creditable  and  the  most  praiseworthy  of  the 
traits  of  character  exhibited  by  Penn.  In  his  consideration  of  the 
original  plan  of  the  city  he  sought  to  preserve  for  each  house  a  spacious 
yard  "that  it  may  be  a  green  country  town  which  will  never  be  burnt 
and  always  be  wholesome."  It  would  perhaps  be  difficult  to  find  words 
of  equal  number  which  could  serve  to  more  clearly  or  more  graphically 
illustrate  the  high  and  the  unselfish  ideas  of  the  proprietor  of  Pennsyl- 
vania in  connection  with  the  construction  of  Philadelphia.  The  health, 
the  comfort  and  the  welfare  of  the  people  for  all  time  were  uppermost 
in  the  mind  of  Penn  when  the  city  was  projected  and  the  example  thus 
set  by  the  proprietor  himself  has  been  followed  ever  since  by  the 
descendants  of  the  early  citizens  and  contemporaries  of  the  leader  of 
the  Quaker  sect.  It  is  not  alone  the  unrivalled  location  of  the  city,  with 
its  background  of  gentle,  wooded  elevations  to  the  north  and  to  the 
west  and  the  broad,  stately  stream  on  the  east  curving  slightly  south- 
west and  then  with  faint  deflection  southeast  and  forming  a  perceptible 
bow  of  the  opposite  New  Jersey  shore,  but  the  charm  of  the  shaded 
streets,  the  splendor  of  its  spacious  and  well-planted  squares,  the  ever 
fresh  and  cleanly  appearance  of  its  houses  which  attract  the  attention 
and  captivate  the  fancy  of  visitors,  of  tourists,  and  of  its  own  citizens 
who  may  roam  over  the  world  and  return  with  the  consciousness  that 
its  like  has  not  been  seen  and  that  its  beauty  never  wanes. 

From  the  date  of  the  formation  of  the  city  almost  it  became  great 
and  famous.  The  character  of  the  peoples  who  came  to  the  Pemisyl- 
vanian  shore  both  at  the  time  and  in  the  wake  of  the  arrival  of  Penn 
was  a  guarantee  of  the  success  of  its  future.  With  the  numerous 
skilled  and  industrious  craftsmen  belonging  to  the  most  thrifty  and 
most  ingenious  of  the  races  of  the  earth  pressing  forward,  eager  to 
work  with  hands  and  brain  and  clear  the  land  and  make  valuable  the 
homesteads  they  had  bought,  it  cannot  be  surprising  that  Philadelphia 
easily  became,  in  less  than  six  years  from  its  beginning,  the  greatest  city 
in  America,  as  well  as  the  largest  centre  of  manufacture,  a  position  she 
Las  maintained  ever  since.  To  Penn  the  rapid  growth  of  the  town 
seems  to  have  been  ever  a  source  of  surprise.  He  had  not  been  011  the 
soil  of  his  new  possessions  one  year  and  the  city  had  not  celebrated  its 
first  anniversary  when  the  proprietor  wrote  to  the  Marquis  of  Halifax  : 
"  I  must  without  vanity  say  that  I  have  led  the  greatest  colony  into 
America  that  ever  any  man  did  upon  private  credit  and  the  most 
prosperous  beginnings  that  ever  were  in  it  are  to  be  found  among  us." 

This  statement,  betokening  so  much  satisfaction  on  the  part  of  the 


MILLS  AND  MANUFACTORIES.  89 


proprietor  over  the  condition  of  the  new  city,  was  made  when  Phila- 
delphia was  in  the  height  of  activity  as  a  young,  pushing,  hopeful 
beginner.  In  the  year  in  which  it  was  founded,  sixteen  hundred  and 
eighty-two,  which  was  also  the  year  of  Penn's  arrival  from  England, 
twenty-three  ships  bringing  colonists,  chiefly  from  English  ports,  sailed 
up  the  Delaware  ;  and  the  records  show  that  there  were  more  than  one 
thousand  persons  landed  at  the  several  newly-constructed  wharves 
before  the  beginning  of  sixteen  hundred  and  eighty-three.  The 
colonists  arrived  so  rapidly  that  houses  could  not  be  found  in  sufficient 
number  to  shelter  them,  and,  adapting  themselves  to  the  condition  of 
the  time  and  the  spirit  of  the  occasion,  they  dug  caves  in  the  high 
banks  of  the  Delaware  and  of  the  Schuylkill  and  lived  in  reasonable 
comfort  until  they  were  able  to  secure  or  to  construct  dwellings. 

The  beginning  and  the  subsequent  rapid  growth  of  the  manufac- 
turing interests  of  Philadelphia  were  natural  results  of  the  wisdom  dis- 
played in  the  selection  of  the  colonists  in  the  old  world.  It  seems 
almost  incredible,  in  view  of  the  length  of  time  required  for  the 
establishment  on  a  firm  basis  of  the  colony  at  Jamestown  and  the 
settlement  in  Massachusetts,  that  within  seven  years  after  the  founding 
of  Philadelphia  a  number  of  mills  and  factories  had  been  constructed 
and  were  in  operation  within  what  are  now  the  limits  of  Philadelphia. 
The  list  included  a  paper  mill  on  the  Schuylkill,  where  William 
Bradford  and  Samuel  Carpenter  produced  the  heavy  fibrous  material 
which  attest  the  skill  and  honesty  of  the  workmanship  and  material 
employed  in  some  of  the  carefully  preserved  old  publications  to  be  seen 
in  several  of  the  libraries  of  Philadelphia  to-day.  There  was  also  a  mill 
for  the  manufacture  of  woolen  goods  ;  and  the  disposition  of  the  people 
to  encourage  such  enterprise  was  shown  by  the  maintenance  at  the 
common  expense  of  a  flock  of  sheep  which  was  herded  on  the  meadows 
in  the  town  by  'a  regularly  employed  shepherd  and  several  assistants. 
Among  other  industries  was  a  notable  list  of  flouring  mills,  the  city 
and  the  surrounding  country  carrying  on  a  brisk  commercial  trade  in 
this  article  and  in  other  products  with  the  West  Indies  and  other  islands 
southward.  Almost  every  stream,  especially  about  Germantown  and 
Chester,  was  the  scene  of  an  active  business  in  this  line  of  enterprise  ; 
the  Swedes  being  good  farmers  and  large  producers  of  grain.  There 
was  likewise  a  mill  which  produced  a  species  of  oil  used  as  a  lubricant ; 
and  in  addition  to  these  larger  means  of  manufacture  there  were  hun- 
dreds of  spinning-wheels  in  the  country  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of 
stuff  from  hemp,  a  work  which  was  universal  and  not  confined  to  any 
single  nationality. 


90  THE  STORY  OF  AN  AMERICAN  CITY. 

With  all  the  activity  on  the  part  of  the  people,  not  only  in  the  new 
city  but  in  the  surrounding  villages,  it  is  not  surprising  that  land 
should  rapidly  advance  in  value.  The  rise  in  the  price  of  ground  was 
something  which  may  be  fairly  regarded,  in  this  day  after  an  experi- 
ence of  nearly  two  centuries,  as  phenomenal.  Sixteen  years  from  the 
date  of  the  founding  of  Philadelphia,  or  in  sixteen  hundred  and 
ninety-eight,  tracts  were  sold  for  forty  dollars  per  hundred  acres,  a  rise 
in  value  in  twelve  years  of  more  than  one  thousand  per  cent.  In  the 
meanwhile  every  ship  captain  who  came  to  the  town  to  trade  or  to 
bring  settlers  was  an  involuntary  land  promoter.  He  sailed  away 
and  told  the  story  in  ports  of  various  countries  of  the  rapid  growth  of 
Philadelphia.  Captain  Richard  Norris,  in  the  year  sixteen  hundred 
and  ninety,  being  newly  arrived  from  England,  observes  with  wonder 
the  change  in  the  appearance  of  the  city  since  he  saw  it  last.  So  many 
houses  had  been  built  in  his  absence  that  the  ground  facing  the  Dela- 
ware river  was  enclosed,  save  the  passage  ways  of  streets  running  at 
right  angles  with  the  brick  walls.  "  The  Bank  and  River  street  is  so 
filled  with  houses,"  he  writes,  "  that  it  makes  an  inclosed  street  with 
the  Front  in  many  places  which  before  lay  open  to  the  river  Delaware." 


TJIUVSRSITY 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  APPROACH  OF  THE  REVOLUTION— WANING  POWER  OF  THE  PENNS— TROUBLES  V.-IIICH 
BESET  THE  FOUNDER— OFFER  OF  THE  SONS  TO  MEDIATE  BETWEEN  AMERICA  AND 
ENGLAND— THE  STAMP  ACT  AND  ITS  EFFECT— FIRST  MOVE  FOR  THE  UNION  OF  THE 
COLONIES. 

THERE  is  so  much  to  say  about  this  new  city  founded  by  Penn— 
this  magical  settlement  in  the  wonderland,  as  it  seems  to  the 
Europeans.  Penn  himself  is  a  busy  figure  in  these  early  days. 
He  flits  hither  and  thither,  now  addressing  a  Quaker  meeting  at 
Upland  or  at  Southwark  and  next  conferring  with  the  Deputy  Gov- 
ernor and  his  Council  and  others  whom  he  has  placed  in  authority. 
There  is  no  rest  for  this  man  of  high  hopes  and  aspirations.  The 
proprietor  and  universal  benefactor  of  a  colony  that  is  rapidly  growing 
too  large  and  too  complex  even  for  one  possessed  of  so  much  executive 
capacity  and  tact  as  himself,  he  finds  unlooked-for  difficulties  arising 
here  and  there  and  much  to  annoy  and  harass  his  cheerful  spirit. 
Some  of  the  order-loving  Quakers,  craving  the  sound  sleep  which  the 
maxim-makers  attribute  to  a  good  conscience,  find  their  peace  disturbed 
by  certain  "  disorderly  bands  of  wild  Indians,"  who  appear  to  have 
acquired  the  habit  of  coming  to  town  for  the  sole  object  of  partaking 
of  that  fiery  liquid,  the  accompaniment  of  civilization,  which  burns 
but  quenches  not  thirst,  the  effect  of  which  upon  the  uncultured  savages 
is  such  as  to  cause  the  grievously  annoyed  wearers  of  drab  to  complain 
to  the  Council  and  ask  that  something  be  done  to  put  a  stop  to  the 
acts  of  "  these  yelling  Indians  who  go  through  the  streets  and  disturb 
the  rest  of  people  at  night." 

Penn.  the  proprietor,  must  not  only  respectfully  hear  this  and 
kindred  complaints,  but  he  must  do  his  best  to  remedy  the  grievance. 
Behind  the  scene  of  alf  the  ceremonious  trappings  of  Deputy  Governors 
and  officials  who  acknowledge  his  authority  there  is  the  thorny  road  of 
continuous  fault-finding  and  dissatisfaction,  the  discord  of  factions,  and 
envy,  jealousy  and  bitterness  in  his  official  family.  With  a  calm  mind 
and  remarkable  patience  he  does  his  utmost  to  keep  things  smooth  and 
succeeds  suprisingly  well  considering  the  stuff  he  has  to  deal  with. 
For,  human  nature,  the  same  essentially  the  world  over,  is  not  to  be 
supposed  to  have  been  different  among  Perm's  colonists,  the  founders 
of  Philadelphia  and  Pennsylvania,  made  up  as  they  were  of  representa- 

(93) 


94  THE  STORY  OF  AN  AMERICAN  CITY. 

lives  of  the  firmest  elements,  in  a  social  and  religious  sense,  of  the  most 
progressive  and  enlightened  of  European  nations. 

Besides,  Perm  has  his  own  private  troubles,  the  principal  of  which 
seems  to  be  a  wild  son,  William,  the  only  boy  by  his  first  wife,  who 
ultimately  crosses  the  water  and  comes  to  his  father's  city  on  a  sort  of 
holiday  excursion,  and,  being  petted  and  feted,  gets  into  the  company 
of  a  rather  wild  set  and  distinguishes  himself  by  beating  the  night 
watch  who  had  cautioned  him  to  be  more  orderly  on  the  street,  for 
which  act  he  is  presented  at  court  and  indicted  for  assault  by  the  severe 
and  mirth-condemning  Friends,  much  to  the  grief  of  his  father,  who 
feels  that  his  family  deserved  better  from  the  hands  of  the  men  whom 
he  led  into  the  American  wilderness.  It  appears  also  he  has  a  son-in- 
law,  one  Aubrey,  a  mean-spirited  man,  who  marries  his  daughter 
Letitia,  called  by  her  father  "Tish,"  and  who  becomes  angry  when  he 
finds  he  cannot  sell  rapidly  enough  the  lots  near  the  Delaware  front 
which  Father-in-law  Penn  gave  to  his  daughter  as  her  marriage  por- 
tion, and  he  equalizes  matters  by  charging  his  wife's  father  interest  on 
the  money  unrealized  as  yet  from  the  sale  of  the  land.  That  Penn 
should  become  angry  at  the  baseness  of  this  son-in-law,  as  we  read,  it 
is  not  strange,  nor  can  it  seem  surprising  that,  in  view  of  the  troubles 
and  the  cares  which  possessed  him,  aggravated  by  the  bickerings  and 
dissensions  among  the  colonists  and  the  officials  over  them,  his  mind 
should  give  way  some  time  before  his  death  in  England,  in  the  year 
seventeen  hundred  and  eighteen.  Well  was  it  for  the  pious  and  noble- 
hearted  son  of  the  old  admiral,  the  abused  and  persecuted  seceder  from 
the  Church  of  England,  that  his  earthly  course  closed  when  it  did,  for 
there  was  the  shadow  of  a  black  cloud  rising  over  the  fair  prospect  of 
Penn  and  of  his  native  clime,— a  cloud  destined  to  sweep  over  all  the 
American  land  with  cyclonic  fury,  tearing  away  and  bearing  in  its 
grasp  the  rights  of  kings  and  of  royally  chartered  proprietors  alike, 
never  to  be  restored  so  long  as  the  ringing  words  of  a  Declaration  of 
Independence  and  the  bell-tones  of  a  proclamation  of  liberty  have 
meaning  and  force.  Yet  what  trouble  is  entailed  upon  the  descend- 
ants of  the  generous-hearted  proprietor — the  sons  by  his  second  wife, 
Hannah  Callowhill — wTho  inherit  the  American  possessions !  Lonely 
and  care-burdened  woman !  She  sees  the  growing  feeling  of  unrest 
among  the  colonists  as  the  rapidly  expanding  city  of  Philadelphia  in- 
creases in  size  and  in  commercial  importance,  and  she  becomes  dis- 
pleased at  the  governor,  Sir  William  Keith,  who  appears  to  truckle  to  the 
populace  and  to  not  display  the  concern  he  should  for  the  interests  of 
the  family  of  Penn.  Furthermore,  there  has  lately  come  to  Philadel- 


WANING   POWER   OF   THE   PENNS.  97 


phia  a  mischievous  spirit,  a  young  New  England  printer  hailing  from 
Boston,  one  Benjamin  Franklin,  who  seems  to  have  an  unusual  amount 
of  curiosity,  and  toward  whom  the  governor  seems  to  show  rather  too 
much  consideration.  This  Franklin  is  a  ready  writer,  and  has  the 
making  of  a  busy  man  of  affairs.  Altogether  there  is  about  him  a 
thoroughly  American  spirit,  and  if  persons  possessed  of  the  gift  of 
divination  look  deeply  enough  they  may  see  in  him  traces  of  a  con- 
tempt for  royalty  as  well  as  for  royally  commissioned  proprietors  of 
American  colonies.  But  what  is  this  Franklin's  object  ?  He  cultivates 
everybody,  makes  friends  every  where,  but  is  not  found  making  any 
particularly  extravagant  professions  of  friendship  for  the  Perm  family. 
If  Hannah  Penn  distrusts  him,  it  may  be  her  woman's  intuition  tells 
her  that  the  development  of  too  much  freedom  of  thought  and  action 
in  an  American  colony  is  not  alone  bad  for  the  authority  of  the  king, 
but  likewise  detrimental  to  the  rights  of  the  proprietor  of  the  land  who 
enjoys  his  possessions  by  the  grace  of  the  sovereign.  And  the  young 
man  Franklin  stands  typical  of  American  independence  and  self-reli- 
ance,— a  rather  unpleasant  figure  for  those  who  dwell  across  the  water 
and  desire  their  authority  to  be  respected  in  the  American  wilderness. 
All  the  more  unpleasant  since  the  background  to  his  towering  figure 
is  a  raw,  unbroken  country  not  to  the  liking  of  this  second  wife  of 
Penri  any  more  than  it  is  to  her  daughter  "  Tish,"  both  of  whom  im- 
portuned the  proprietor  to  return  to  his  native  land  after  his  second 
visit  to  his  possessions  in  sixteen  hundred  and  ninety-nine,  not  content 
to  spend  their  days  in  the  new  country.  The  sojourn  of  nearly  two 
years  at  the  manor  house,  Permsbury,  in  Bucks  County,  proved  enough 
for  the  tenderly  reared  wife  and  daughter  of  England,  and  with  busi- 
ness complications  in  Europe  added  to  their  entreaties  the  active  and 
patient  founder  of  America's  greatest  colony  yielded  to  their  wishes 
and  sailed  away,  nevermore  to  behold  the  land  of  his  fondest  hopes 
and  most  cherished  objects. 

Nevertheless,  the  colonists  are  people  of  honor.  They  will  not 
disregard  proprietary  rights  unless  there,  shall  be  great  provocation. 
With  all  the  growth  and  expansion  of  Philadelphia  and  the  colony  of 
Pennsylvania,  the  interest  of  the  Penns  were  respected  up  to  the  time 
of  tie-breaking  out  of  the  war  of  the  Revolution.  In  the  year  seven- 
teen hundred  and  sixty-seven  Thomas  Penn,  who,  with  Richard,  be- 
came proprietor  of  Pennsylvania,  speaks  of  the  colony  wishing  to  buy 
them  out,  thus  making  evident  the  fact  that  up  to  within  a  very  short 
period  of  the  date  when  circumstances  brought  about  the  Declaration 
of  Independence  the  patient  colonists  still  respected  the  rights  of  the 


98  THE  STORY  OF  AN  AMERICAN  CITY. 

Penns.  There  is  something  sad  in  the  spectacle  of  the  waning  influ- 
ence and  the  diminishing  figures  of  these  sons  of  Penn  as  they  stand 
on  the  verge  of  the  Revolution,  looking  this  way  and  that,  as  men 
bewildered,  not  knowing  what  to  do  or  whither  to  turn,  but  finally 
coming  to  their  senses  sufficiently  to  face  the  thoroughly  aroused  and 
angered  American  populace,  and  request  in  calm,  quiet  tones  to  be 
allowed  to  act  as  mediators  between  England  and  the  colonies !  Philadel- 
phia, the  city  their  father  had  founded,  was  the  seat  of  the  Revolution 
and,  as  it  afterward  was  called,  the  Cradle  of  Liberty.  It  was  truly  a 
stifF-necked  band  that  had  settled  the  greatest  of  American  provinces. 
The  new  city  in  the  colony,  whose  founder  had  stood  so  close  to  the 
king,  was  the  scene  of  the  first  American  Congress ;  it  was  the  scene 
of  the  adoption  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  of  the  proclamation 
of  the  liberty  of  all  the  colonies,  of  the  devising  and  the  adoption  of 
the  national  emblem  after  Britain's  ensign  had  been  cast  to  the  winds, 
and  finally  it  was  the  spot  which  gave  birth  to  the  American  Navy 
which  did  such  aggressive  work  against  the  sea  rovers  of  the  mother 
land  at  a  later  period.  Well  might  the  Penn  boys  feel  exercised  over 
the  situation,  and  natural  it  was  they  should  wish  to  mediate.  But 
the  days  for  mediation  had  passed,  as  well  as  the  days  for  obedience  to 
the  voice  of  a  proprietor  of  Pennsylvania.  The  last  tones  of  the  sons 
of  Penn  in  their  plea  for  peace  is  drowned  by  the  roar  of  musketry 
at  Lexington  and  Concord,  and  their  rapidly  vanishing  faces  are 
obscured  by  the  dust  raised  by  the  foaming  steed  of  Paul  Revere  in 
his  long,  mad  ride  on  his  mission  to  arouse  the  Colonies,  from  Boston 
to  the  Quaker  City  on  the  Delaware. 

One  more  glance  at  ancient  Philadelphia  before  it  assumes  its 
position  of  pre-eminence  as  the  seat  of  a  new  national  government  and 
finds  its  peaceful  past  obscured  by  the  blinding  storm  of  a  fierce 
Revolution.  Its  rapid  growth  and  development  as  a  commercial  city 
has  been  mentioned.  In  comparison  with  the  other  two  colonies — 
Jamestown  in  Virginia  and  Plymouth  in  Massachusetts — its  progress 
seems  magical.  It  provided  a  means  for  the  education  of  its  chil- 
dren one  year  after  the  city  was  founded,  or  in  sixteen  hundred  and 
eighty-three ;  and  Master  Enoch  Flower,  was  engaged  to  teach  the 
young  for  a  small  consideration.  Later  there  was  started  an  institu- 
tion destined  to  become  famous,  to  which  the  proprietor  gave  the  use 
of  his  name.  Thus  the  William  Penn  Charter  School,  standing  as 
living,  vital  evidence  of  the  high  estimate  placed  by  the  original 
Philadelphia  Quakers  on  the  training  of  the  minds  of  their  youth, 
and  rearing  its  modern  walls  of  substantial  brick  alongside  the  ancient 


o 


•OTTD**^ 

,  3IIVBRSIT7] 


THE    WILLIAM    PEXX    CHARTER   SCHOOL.  101 

Structure  that  served  its  purpose  up  until  within  a  recent  period  in  this 
generation,  was  started  under  the  patronizing  eye  of  the  founder  seven 
ycMi-s  after  the  settlement  of  the  city,  or  in  sixteen  hundred  and  eighty- 
nine.  And  so  fully  did  it  meet  the  approbation  of  Penn — who  looked 
upon  it  apparently  as  a  proud  sponsor  would  regard  a  youthful  name- 
sake— that  011  the  last  of  the  three  occasions  when  he  was  called  upon 
to  charter  it,  in  the  years  1701,  1708  and  1711,  he  graciously  set  forth 
that,  "  I  hereby  wrill  and  ordain  and  by  these  presents  do  assign,  nomi- 
nate, constitute  and  appoint  niy  trusty  and  wTell-beloved  friends  Samuel 
Carpenter,  the  elder  Edward  Shippen,  Griffith  Owen,  Thomas  Storey, 
Anthony  Morris,  Richard  Hill,  Isaac  Norris,  Samuel  Preston,  Jonathan 
Dickenson,  Nathan  Stanbury,  Thomas  Masters,  Nicholas  Wain,  Caleb 
Pusey,  Rowland  Ellis  and  James  Logan  to  be  the  present  overseers  of 
the  said  school.  In  Virginia  there  was  no  printing-press  until  after 
the  lapse  of  a  period  of  more  than  one  hundred  years  after  the  settle- 
ment at  Jamestown  ;  in  New  York  there  was  none  until  seventy-three 
years  from  the  time  of  its  colonization,  and  Massachusetts  lacked  the 
same  instrument  of  civilization  for  a  period  of  eighteen  years  from 
the  date  of  the  landing  at  Plymouth  Rock,  while  Philadelphia  had 
a  press  and  an  intelligent  printer  in  the  person  of  William  Bradford 
within  four  years  of  the  time  of  the  settlement  of  the  city.  In  the 
various  branches  of  industry  she  likewise  took  the  lead  of  all  other 
cities.  She  had  brickyards,  cotton  mills,  paper  mills  and  woolen 
factories  before  they  were  known  in  any  other  portion  of  the  continent, 
and  her  enterprise  in  this  respect  has  continued,  enabling  her  to  still 
keep  her  place  as  the  largest  manufacturing  city  in  America. 

Thus  for  her  industries,  her  enterprise,  and  her  resources.  So- 
many  things  are  happening  now  in  this  era  of  Stamp  Acts  and  pro- 
vincial ire  and  excitement  that  the  Quaker  City, — "  Penn's  Experi- 
ment," as  it  was  formerly  known  in  Europe, — is  fast  losing  its  identity, 
and  promises  to  lose  what  is  more,  its  character,  at  least  for  loyalty  to 
the  king.  What  is  the  meaning  of  the  universal  muttering  and  the 
oneness  of  thought  and  the  unity  of  action  among  men — tradesmen, 
merchants,  carpenters,  and  officials?  They  are  doing  strange  things 
in  these  unrestful  days,  and  the  king  and  the  mother  land  are  men- 
tioned only  with  defiance  and  bitterness.  The  people  seem  rebellious. 
They  are  saving  up  and  preparing  for  some  anticipated  ordeal.  They 
are  opposed  to  all  things  foreign, — that  is,  commodities, — since  Britain 
has  decreed  they  shall  be  taxed.  They  will  buy  no  tea  nor  dress  goods, 
and  all  ships  attempting  to  come  into  port  with  cargoes  are  warned 
that  they  had  best  seek  other  waters.  The  Hibernia  Fire  Company 


102  THE  STORY  OF  AX  AMERICAN  CITY. 

has  resolved,  from  motives  of  economy,  "  not  to  eat  any  lamb  this  season 
nor  to  drink  any  foreign  beer,"  a  sacrifice  that  could  only  be  brought 
about  by  an.  extraordinary  state  of  things,  since  it  is  not  apparent  that 
the  members  of  the  company  were  transformed  into  either  vegetarians 
or  total  abstainers,  but  only  acted  thus  "in  order  to  reduce  the  present 
high  price  of  mutton  and  encourage  the  breweries  of  Pennsylvania." 
Franklin,  the  printer,  foreign  agent  of  the  Colonies  in  London,  had 
given  his  fellow  Americans  their  cue  in  his  answer  during  his  examina- 
tion before  the  House  of  Commons  in  connection  with  sundry  contro- 
versies over  the  Stamp  Act :  "  What  used  to  be  the  pride  of  the  Ameri- 
cans?" he  was  asked  ;  and  the  answer  came  as  neatly  as  if  the  question 
had  been  previously  fitted  to  it :  "To  indulge  in  the  fashions  and 
manufactures  of  Great  Britain."  "What  is  now  their  pride  ?"  "To 
wear  their  old  clothes  over  again  until  they  can  make  new  ones." 

A  certain  John  Hughes  has  been  appointed  stamp  distributor,  but 
the  people  will  not  let  him  touch  the  obnoxious  things.  They  have 
burnt  him  in  effigy,  and  it  is  not  unlikely  that  if  he  falls  into  their 
hands  there  will  be  an  incineration  of  a  genuine  sort.  When  the 
stamps  finally  reach  New  Castle  he  is  afraid  to  touch  them.  A  mob 
surrounds  his  house,  beats  muffled  drums,  jeers  and  taunts  him,  and 
demands  that  he  resign  the  hated  office.  The  son  of  Chief  Justice 
Allen  leads  the  band,  and  thus  adorns  the  marauding  expedition  with 
the  semblance  of  a  high  judicial  sanction.  A  committee  formally  re- 
iterates the  demand  for  the  stamp  agent's  resignation ;  its  members, 
Robert  Morris,  James  Tilghman,  Charles  Thompson,  Archibald  McCall, 
John  Cox,  William  Richards,  and  William  Bradford,  representing  the 
wealth  and  respectability  of  Philadelphia.  Hughes,  with  a  disposition 
to  ignore  the  extent  of  the  dissatisfaction,  writes  an  explanatory  letter 
and  naively  says  the  trouble  was  stirred  up  by  the  Presbyterians, — as 
if  Quakers,  Baptists,  Episcopalians  and  the  like  were  not  equally 
affected  by  the  -imposition  of  the  stamp  duty  ! 

The  leaven  of  disaffection  works  throughout  all  the  colonies,  and 
at  the  suggestion  of  James  Otis,  of  Massachusetts,  it  is  proposed  to  hold 
a  Congress  of  the  Colonies  in  New  York  on  the  second  Tuesday  of 
November  in  the  year  seventeen  hundred  and  sixty-five.  In  the  mean- 
while, everywhere  throughout  the  provinces,  merchants  and  traders 
are  signing  agreements  not  to  import  anything  from  abroad.  The 
Philadelphians  sign  the  compact  in  October,  countermanding  all  orders 
for  British  goods  until  the  Stamp  Act  shall  have  been  repealed.  That 
the  agreement  may  be  carried  into  effect  and  not  be  a  mere  empty 
thing  a  Committee  is  appointed,  made  up  of  Thomas  Willing,  Samuel 


U1UVBRSIT7 


THE   STAMP   ACT   AND    ITS   EFFECT.  105 

Mifflin,  Thomas  Montgomery,  Samuel  Howell,  Samuel  Wharton,  John 
Khea,  William  Fisher,  Joshua  Fisher,  Peter  Chevalier,  Benjamin 
Fuller  and  Abel  James.  The  relailers  likewise  take  similar  action  and 
appoint  as  their  Committee  John  Ord,  Francis  Wade,  Joseph  Deane, 
David  Deshler,  George  Bartram,  Andrew  Doz,  George  Schlosser,  James 
Hunter,  Thomas  Paschall,  Thomas  West  and  Valentine  Charles. 
Blanks  were  printed  countermanding  orders  for  goods,  and  with  the 
signatures  of  the  dealers  attached  were  forwarded  to  the  respective 
houses  with  which  they  dealt  in  England. 

There  is  something  practical  in  this  universal  non-importation 
agreement.  Bound  by  mutual  grievances  and  mutual  interests,  the 
colonies  are  steadily,  though  imperceptibly,  preparing  for  ultimate 
union.  The  year  seventeen  hundred  and  seventy  finds  the  retaliation 
scheme  disturbed.  New  York  recedes  from  all  the  non-importing 
agreements  save  those  relating  to  tea,  and  forthwith  the  blood  of 
Philadelphia  is  aroused.  Philadelphia's  anger  finds  vent  in  an  indig- 
nation meeting  in  the  State  House,  at  which  one  Joseph  -Fox  presides, 
and  puts  resolutions  denouncing  the  action  of  New  York  as  "  sordid 
and  wanton  and  tending  to  weaken  the  Union  of.  the  Colonies."  Non- 
intercourse  with  New  York  is  resolved  upon  and  a  card  is  published  in 
one  of  the  newspapers  with  the  ironical  proposition  :  "  The  inhabitants 
of  the  city  of  Philadelphia  present  their  compliments  to  the  inhabitants 
of  New  York  and  beg  they  will  send  their  Old  Liberty  Pole  as  they 
can,  by  their  late  conduct,  have  no  further  use  for  it." 

Thus  does  the  city  of  Perm  pay  its  respects  to  its  rival,  whose 
"  Liberty  Pole  "  seems  not  inappropriate  in  the  possession  of  the  town 
which  already  has  what  is  destined  to  be  known  throughout  civiliza- 
tion as  the  Liberty  Bell,  a  relic  to  be  preserved  and  revered  by  future 
generations  and  not,  like  the  aforesaid  Liberty  Pole,  forgotten  or  mis- 
laid in  the  hurry  and  activity  of  varied  mercantile  and  commercial 
pursuits,  alike  distracting  and  profitable,  notwithstanding  the  lack  of 
stimulating  effect  produced  by  the  elimination  of  tea  from  the  house- 
hold luxuries  of  the  New  York  trader. 


j 


i 


LUI 


J 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  GOLDEN  ERA  OF  THE  PRINTER— AMERICAN  SPIRIT  AROUSED  IN  PHILADELPHIA- 
NO  COMPROMISE  WITH  THE  TEA  COMMISSIONERS— THREATENING  AND  INCENDIARY 
HAND-BILLS—HARD  FATE  OP  THE  SHIP  "POLLY"  AND  HER  CAPTAIN— A  HELPING 
HAND  TO  BOSTON— INAUGURATING  THE  MOVE  FOR  THE  FIRST  CONGRESS. 

EVERYWHERE  in  the  American  Colonies  now  men  are  rising 
and  asserting  the  superiority  of  common  rights  over  the  decree 
of  despotic  power.  There  is  much  speech-making,  many 
inflammatory  appeals,  and  the  printers  were  never  so  busy ;  likewise 
there  is  an  abundance  of  epistolary  talent  shown,  and  an  unusual 
amount  of  irony  and  sarcasm  which  might  otherwise  have  lain 
dormant.  New  York  with  its  Liberty  Pole,  which  emblematic  piece 
of  wood  seems  to  have  lost  something  of  its  virtue  since  the  thrifty- 
minded  traders  of  that  city  broke  their  pledge  in  connection  with  the 
non-importation  agreement,  is  not  the  only  target  of  the  satirical  and 
incendiary  patriot.  He  directs  his  batteries  on  the  tea  commissioners, 
on  the  customs  officers  and  on  the  captains  of  merchant  ships.  There 
are  many  anonymous  handbills,  replete  with  threats  of  a  nature  to 
curdle  the  blood  and  to  make  strong  men  hesitate.  A  certain  Ebenezer 
Richardson,  a  Boston  customs  officer,  having  come  to  the  city  of  Penn 
to  exercise  his  official  functions,  was  so  thoroughly  denounced  by  the 
press  arid  by  the  ever  ready  handbills  that  he  found  it  prudent  to  fly 
the  city  to  escape  the  discomfort  and  ignominy  of  a  coat  of  tar  and 
feathers. 

Then  there  was  the  sensational  event  in  connection  with  the  ship 
"Polly,"  which  lost  all  the  affectionate  significance  of  the  diminutive 
in  its  name  by  reason  of  the  fact  that  it  sailed  from  London  with  a  load 
of  tea  and  was  in  due  time  expected  up  the  Delaware.  The  "  Polly," 
in  the  long  weeks  intervening  from  the  time  of  her  leaving  port  in  the 
Thames  to  the  date  of  her  expected  arrival  at  Philadelphia,  assumed 
as  many  hated  forms  as  the  fabled  monster  of  old,  and  in  her  invisi- 
bility produced  the  effect  of  lashing  the  patriot  American  into  the  very 
white  heat  of  fury,  as  well  as  creating  an  era  of  glory  for  the  printer, 
being  good  for  so  many  different  handbills  launching  forth  invectives 
and  threats  of  dire  punishment  that  the  press  is  kept  busy  night  and 
day  and  the  skilled  operator  can  have  practically  his  own  terms. 
There  are  posters  and  circulars  addressed  to  various  classes  of  citizens. 

(109) 


110  THE  STORY  OF  AN  AMERICAN  CITY. 

One  directed  to  tradesmen,  mechanics  and  artisans  warns  them  in  self- 
defence  to  not  temporize  with  the  abhorred  East  India  Company  but  to 
meet  it  on  the  very  threshold  :  "  Be,  therefore,  my  dear  fellow  trades- 
man, prudent,  be  watchful,  be  determined  to  let  no  motive  induce  you 
to  favor  the  accursed  scheme.  Reject  every  proposal  but  a  repealing 
act ;  let  not  their  baneful  commodity  enter  your  city.  Treat  every 
aider  or  abettor  with  ignominy,  contempt,  etc.,  and  let  your  deportment 
prove  to  the  world  that  we  will  be  free  indeed." 

As  the  time  draws  nigh  for  the  detested  "  Polly  "  to  appear  in  the 
lower  Delaware  another  handbill  is  sent  broadcast  addressed  to  the 
pilots ;  coaxing,  patronizing  and  threats  curiously  mingled,  and  the  tone 
altogether  impetuous  and  fiery.  "We  need  not  point  out,"  says  the 
incendiary  effusion,  "the  step  you  ought  to  take  if  the  tea  ship  falls  in 
your  way.  You  cannot  be  at  a  loss  how  to  prevent,  or,  if  that  cannot 
be  done,  how  to  give  the  merchants  of  the  city  timely  notice  of  her 
arrival.  But  this  you  may  depend  on,  that  whatever  pilot  brings  her 
into  the  river,  such  pilot  shall  be  marked  for  his  treason  and  will  never 
afterward  meet  with  the  least  encouragement  in  his  business.  Like 
Cain,  he  will  be  hung  out  as  a  spectacle  to  all  nations,  and  be  forever 
recorded  as  the  damned  traitorous  pilot  who  brought  up  the  tea  ship. 
This,  however,  cannot  be  the  case  with  you.  You  have  proved 
scourges  to  evil-doers,  to  infamous  informers  and  tide-waiters,  and  we 
may  venture  to  predict  that  you  will  give  us  a  faithful  and  satisfactory 
account  of  the  tea  ship  if  you  should  meet  with  her,  and  that  your 
zeal  on  this  occasion  will  entitle  you  to  any  favor  it  may  be  in  the 
power  of  the  merchants  of  Philadelphia  to  confer  upon  you." 

A  not  very  pleasing  prospect  for  the  pilot  of  the  Delaware  to  con- 
template !  The  circular  is  signed,  "  The  Committee  for  tarring  and 
feathering."  There  cannot  be  much  doubt  that  the  committee  means 
business  and  that  it  possesses  or  can  easily  obtain  the  ingredients  which 
enter  into  the  product  of  the  article  with  which  it  is  intended  to  clothe 
the  recreant  pilot  who  has  the  misfortune  to  fall  into  its  hands.  There 
is  a  postscript  to  the  circular  explaining: that  "This  ship  with  the  tea 
on  board  is  called  the  '  Polly/  Captain  Ay  res,  and  left  Gravesend  on  the 
27th  of  September,  so  that  she  may  be  hourly  expected."  Later  a 
supplemental  bill  appears  and  informs  the  pilots  that  the  "  Polly  "  is  a 
three-decker  and  incidentally  reminds  them  of  the  horror  of  a  coat  of 
tar  and  feathers.  A  third  circular  is  addressed  to  Captain  Ayres, 
through  the  unhappy  pilots,  and  warns  him  of  the  danger  both  to 
himself  and  his  ship  if  he  persists  in  coming  into  port.  "  You  are 
sent  out  on  a  diabolical  service,"  it  says,  "  and  if  you  are  so  foolish  and 


AMERICAN  SPIRIT  AROUSED   IN  PHILADELPHIA.  113 


obstinate  as  to  complete  your  voyage  by  bringing  your  ship  to  anchor 
in  this  port  you  may  run  such  a  gauntlet  as  will  induce  you  in  your 
last  moments  most  heartily  to  curse  those  who  have  made  you  the  dupe 
of  their  avarice  and  ambition.  What  think  you,  Captain,  of  a  halter 
round  your  neck,  ten  gallons  of  liquid  tar  decanted  on  your  pate,  with 
the  feathers  of  a  dozen  wild  geese  laid  over  that  to  enliven  your  ap- 
pearance? " 

It  does  not  appear  that  the  captain  finds  himself  able  to  answer 
the  proposition  so  cheerfully  submitted  to  his  consideration,  but  there 
is  some  reason  to  believe  that  he  does  not  relish  tar,  and  that  if  any 
decanting  is  to  be  done  he  would  prefer  it  should  be  in  a  social  way  in 
the  security  of  his  cabin,  or  in  the  office  or  house  of  some  gentleman 
who  will  observe  the  amenities  of  life.  The  gleeful  printer  keeps  on 
with  the  work  which  an  impatient  public  provides  for  him.  A  card 
follows  the  circular  to  the  captain,  bearing  the  "  compliments  of  the 
public  to  Messrs. -James  &  Drinker,"  and  notifying  them  that  they  are 
expected  to  withdraw  as  consignees  of  the  tea.  It  is  quickly  followed 
by  another  bill  addressed  to  the  pilots  and  assuming  to  give  a  careful 
description  of  the  much-talked-about  "  Polly  ;"  an  erroneous  impres- 
sion having  got  abroad  concerning  her  build  and  appearance.  It 
seems  she  is  not  a  three-deck  vessel,  "  but  an  old  black  ship  without 
any  head  or  ornament.  The  captain  is  a  short,  fat  fellow,  and  a  little 
obstinate  withal.  So  much  the  worse  for  him  ;  for  as  sure  as  he  rides 
rusty  we  shall  have  him  keel  out  and  see  that  he  be  well  rubbed  and 
fired  and  paid  " — nautical  terms  which,  doubtless,  have  a  terrible  mean- 
ing for  the  ears  of  the  captain,  but  which  are  unfortunately  lost  on 
laymen.  "  We  know  him  well,"  says  this  fright-breeding^eircular, 
11  and  have  calculated  to  a  gill  and  a  feather  how  much  it  will  take  to 
fit  him  for  an  American  Exhibition."" 

Amidst  all  the  fire  and  inflammation  of  human  passion  and  spirit 
the  thoroughly  notorious  "Polly-"  arrives  at  Chester — on  a  Christmas 
day  of  all  times !  how  and  by  whom  steered  up  the  river  is  unknown, 
fortunately  for  the  "  traitorous  pilot."  Gilbert  Barclay,  one  of  the  con- 
signees who  came  from  London  with  her,  comes  up  to  Philadelphia  in 
advance  of  the  vessel,  and  faces  a  thoroughly  aroused  and  unmistak- 
ably angered  multitude.  The  Committee  waits  upon  him  and  ac- 
quaints him  with  the  state  of  things,  learning  which  he  resigns  his 
commission,  much  to  the  delight  of  the  patriots,  who  at  once  take  him 
to  their  bosoms.  The  work  is  not  done  yet,  nevertheless,  for  there  is 
the  obnoxious  "  Polly  "  at  Chester,  to  which  place  three  Committeemen 
at  once  repair,  while  three  more  hasten  to  Gloucester  Point.  There 


114  THE   STORY  OF  AN  AMERICAN  CITY. 

Captain  Ayres,  who  had  left  Chester,  is  hailed,  and  going  on  shore 
in  accordance  with  an  urgent  invitation,  he  finds  a  crowd  of  people 
who  make  a  lane  along  which  he  may  pass,  though  not  without  afford- 
ing him  an  opportunity  to  observe  and  learn,  more  about  the  deter- 
mination of  the  American  character  than  he  ever  saw  or  knew  before. 
He  meets  the  Committee  and  is  informed  of  the  condition  of  things, 
and  warned  of  his  danger.  The  "  Polly  "  lies  at  anchor  while  the  cap- 
tain goes  up  to  Philadelphia  with  the  Committee,  and  there  faces  a 
crowd  of  eight  thousand  indignant  and  excited  Americans,  including 
an  unusual  number  of  the  youth  of  the  town  who  are  in  high  glee 
over  the  prospect  of  lending  a  hand  in  the  business  of  tarring  and 
feathering. 

But  the  captain  does  not  wish  to  put  them  to  the  trouble  which 
such  exertion  would  involve,  and  in  fact  proves  to  be  a  very  mild  and 
compliant  English  skipper  at  this  moment,  whatever  he  may  be  on 
shipboard  among  his  men  when  the  weather  is  fair  and  his  sense  of 
'autocratic  power  is  uppermost.  If  the  hated  tea  ship  lying  down  off 
•Gloucester,  unconscious  of  all  these  weeks  of  angry  discussion,  antici- 
pation and  excitement,  were  endowed  with  the  power  of  speech,  she 
might  plead  surprise  at  what  she  would  probably  consider  the  undue 
importance  of  the  position  in  which  she  was  placed,  but  being  only  an 
inanimate  thing,  "an  old  black  ship,"  as  the  hand-bill  described  her, 
she  had  nothing  to  do  but  lie  silent  in  the  waters  of  the  Delaware  and 
await  her  fate,  which  was  yet  uncertain.  First,  there  must  be  a  meet- 
Ing  in  the  State  House,  a  citizens'  meeting  two  days  after  Christmas, 
or  on  the  27th  of  December,  at  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning,  to  take  ac- 
tion on  this  most  exciting  episode.  When  the  time  came  the  crowd 
was  too  large,  and  the  meeting  had  to  adjourn  to  the  State  House  yard, 
winter  though  it  was.  Captain  Ayres,  a  thorough  American  and  a 
patriot  by  this  time — having  been  with  the  Committee  long  enough 
and  observed  the  character  of  the  people  sufficiently  to  undergo  the 
process  of  transformation  without  a  murmur — attended  the  meeting  and 
made  a  hero  of  himself  by  agreeing  to  comply  with  all  the  resolutions 
adopted  thereat ;  the  most  important  being  a  provision  that  he  should 
leave  town  on  the  day  following,  going  aboard  his  vessel  and  making 
.the  best  of  his  way  out  of  "our  river  and  bay,"  a  requirement  which 
the  commander  of  the  "Polly"  faithfully  carried  out  with  the  assist- 
ance of  a  committee  of  four  Philadelphia!!  gentlemen  appointed  to  see 
to  it  that  he  did  not  fail  to  comply  with  the  letter  and  spirit  of  the 
command. 

It  is  now  nothing  but  excitement,  uneasy  perturbation,  combative- 


WVBRSIT7 


A  HELPING    HAND   TO   BOSTON. 


ness,  denunciatory  speeches,  defiance  of  royal  authority  and 
sistance  of  all  measures  looking  toward  the  collection  by 
any  customs  duties.  In  all  the  colonies  it  was  the  same,  the  difference 
being  only  that  of  location.  Orators  and  pamphleteers  found  all  they 
had  to  say  listened  to  with  eagerness  and  read  with  avidity.  The 
thoughts  and  the  eyes  of  all  turned  toward  Philadelphia.  Paul  Revere, 
when,  he  was  sent  out  by  the  people  of  Boston,  after  the  closing  of  their  port 
by  royal  order,  to  secure  help  was  charged  to  go  to  the  city  of  Penn.  He 
was  received  with  open-hearted  hospitality  and  a  meeting  was  called  on 
the  day  after  his  arrival  in  the  city  tavern.  The  town  was  so  thoroughly 
American,  so  thoroughly  patriotic,  and  so  palpably  determined  to  resist 
injustice  and  oppression  that  the  other  cities  and  colonies  received  in- 
spiration and  courage  from  her  example  and  learned  to  look  to  her  for 
aid,  for  counsel  and  for  support.  Momentous  movement  this,  inagu- 
rated  by  the  meeting  in  the  city  tavern  !  Charles  Thomson,  John 
Dickinson,  Joseph  Reed  and  Thomas  Mifflin  were  prominent  figures  in 
the  affair  ;  the  former  two  proceeding  cautiously  and  with  conservatism 
in  order  to  make  a  favorable  impression  on  the  Quakers,  whose  assist- 
ance they  needed,  both  active  and  passive.  Likewise  they  wanted  an 
extra  session  of  the  Legislature  called  and  issued  a  petition  to  the  Gov- 
ernor asking  him  to  convene  that  body,  a  request  which  was  at  first 
refused  but  which  found  the  object  it  sought  accomplished  two  or  three 
days  later,  when  the  executive  convened  the  law-making  chamber  os- 
tensibly for  the  purpose  of  taking  action  on  matters  connected  with 
Indian  raids  on  the  border,  —  a  circumstance  which  proved  that  the 
Governor,  with  his  large  number  of  conservative  Quaker  constituents 
who  did  not  believe  in  extraordinary  sessions  of  the  legislative  body, 
was  something  of  a  diplomat  as  well  as  a  politician. 

At  the  meeting  in  the  city  tavern  there  was  formed  a  committee 
on  correspondence  entrusted  with  the  duty  of  writing  to  the  different 
colonies  and  especially  to  the  people  of  Boston.  When  Paul  Revere 
left  for  his  Massachusetts  home  he  carried  with  him  not  only  a  grateful 
impression  of  the  hospitality  and  good  will  of  the  people  of  Philadel- 
phia, but  a  letter  tendering  to  the  citizens  of  his  town  their  sympathy, 
and  their  commendation  of  the  conduct  of  the  descendants  of  the  Puri- 
tans for  the  fortitude  they  had  shown  in  the  period  of  their  troubles  and 
distress.  Boston  had  risen  immensely  in  the  estimation  of  Philadelphia 
when  she  threw  the  British  tea  overboard  in  the  harbor,  and  now  that 
she  was  paying  the  penalty  of  her  act  the  city  of  Penn  was  ready 
to  assume  close  relations  with  her  and  act  promptly  for  the  furtherance 
of  mutual  interests. 


118  THE  STORY  OF  AN  AMERICAN  CITY. 


The  closing  of  the  port  of  Boston  is  having  its  effect  on  all  sides 
and  the  American  spirit  is  thoroughly  aroused.  The  name  of  George 
III.  has  long  since  become  odious  to  the  colonists  who  have  got  into 
the  habit  of  mentioning  their  sovereign  with  contempt  not  only  in 
private  conversation  but  in  public  gatherings.  Has  not  Patrick  Henry 
in  the  House  of  Burgesses  in  Virginia  set  the  example  of  the  privilege 
which  a  subject,  especially  an  American  subject,  may  avail  himself  in 
the-  way  of  denouncing  the  king  ?  Not  strange,  then,  that  tradesmen 
and  mechanics  should  also  be  fired  by  something  of  the  same  spirit 
which  prompted  the  Virginian  orator  to  speak  as  he  did.  Here,  fol- 
lowing on  the  heels  of  the  departure  of  Paul  Revere  for  Boston  with 
his  consolatory  letter,  is  another  meeting  of  Philadelphians  in  session 
on  this  eighteenth  day  of  June,  year  seventeen  hundred  and  seventy- 
four.  The  mechanics,  who  are  a  large  and  influential  body,  especially 
the  Association  of  Carpenters — having  a  fine  brick  hall  of  their  own  in 
a  good  location — have  appointed  a  committee  to  confer  and  co-operate 
with  the  merchants'  committee,  the  mechanics'  representatives  being 
John  Ross,  William  Rush,  Plunket  Fleeson,  Edward  Duffield,  Anthony 
Morris,  Jr.,  Robert  Smith,  Isaac  Howell,  Thomas  Pryor,  David  Ritten- 
house,  William  Masters  and  Jacob  Barge.  Let  the  reader  note  care- 
fully the  proceedings  of  this  meeting,  or  rather  of  the  series  of  meetings 
which  began  on  the  10th  of  June.  On  that  day  representative  Phila- 
delphians have  assembled  in  Philosophical  Hall,  the  head-quarters  of 
the  society  founded  by  Benjamin  Franklin  fifty  years  before,  on  Second 
street,  to  map  out  work  for  the  mass  meeting.  What  is  this  proposition 
which  is  offered  and  which  finds  such  ready  acquiescence  ? — a  general 
Congress  of  all  the  colonies  !  What  will  King  George  say  when  he 
hears  of  this  unheard-of  and  unauthorized  proceeding?  A  general 
Congress  of  the  colonies  at  this  time  means  mischief.  And  as  if  it 

o 

were  not  enough  to  propose  a  step  so  radical,  it  is  suggested  that  Penn- 
sylvania proceed  to  elect  her  delegates  to  the  Congress  through  the 
Assembly.  But  the  Governor  will  not  call  the  Assembly  in  extra 
session  this  time,  whereupon  the  members  of  that  body  have  the 
effrontery  to  meet  without  being  called  by  the  Governor,  and  to  elect 
the  delegates  to  the  proposed  Congress.  The  work  is  assuming  such  a 
formidable  look  that  the  necessities  of  the  immediate  future  rise  to 
their  proper  proportions  and  present  themselves  with  startling  urgency 
and  vividness.  The  eighteenth  day  of  June  comes  and  then,  formally 
and  well  matured,  certain  resolutions  are  presented  and  adopted.  One 
declares  the  closing  of  the  port  of  Boston  is  unconstitutional,  and  that 
in  view  of  that  and  other  things  it  is  expedient  to  convoke  a  Con- 


INAUGURATING  THE  MOVE  FOR  THE   FIRST  CONGRESS.  121 


tinental  Congress.  Philadelphia,  through  its  town  meeting,  is  fulfilling 
its  promise  to  Paul  Revere  and  the  people  of  Boston.  The  Puritan 
City  wanted  sympathy  and  co-operation  in  the  hour  of  trouble,  and 
now  she  shall  find  her  desire  is  not  in  vain. 

The  meeting  does  many  practical  things.  Having  resolved  there 
is  necessity  for  a  Continental  Congress  it  sets  about  to  prepare  menus 
for  calling  it.  A  Committee  on  correspondence  for  the  city  and  county 
is  appointed,  forty-three  in  number,  John  Dickinson,  chairman,  with 
instructions  to  take  the  sense  of  the  people  on  the  question  of  the  ap- 
pointment of  delegates  to  the  Congress,  and  further  to  solicit  subscrip- 
tions for  the  relief  of  the  sufferers  in  Boston.  The  session  closes,  and 
the  Committee  on  correspondence  begins  its  work.  Its  first  meeting  is 
in  Carpenters'  Hall,  on  the  fifteenth  day  of  July,  Thomas  Willing, 
presiding,  and  Charles  Thomson,  secretary.  There  are  ringing  de- 
clarations of  rights  in  this  convention,  and  much  plain  speaking.  The 
English  Parliament  is  condemned,  the  united  action  of  the  colonies 
and  a  colonial  Congress  are  recommended,  and  Pennsylvania  is  pledged 
to  co-operate  with  the  other  provinces.  Also,  the  Assembly  is  requested 
to  appoint  deputies  to  the  Congress,  a  request  which  that  body  complies 
with  when  it  meets  a  few  days  later,  naming  as  the  delegates,  Joseph 
Galloway,  Samuel  Rhoads,  Thomas  Mifflin,  Charles  Humphreys, 
George  Ross  and  Edward  Biddle.  Philadelphia  has  done  its  part ;  the 
fire  has  been  kindled.  The  reader  shall  see  how  the  colonies  outside 
Pennsylvania  are  influenced  by  its  progressive  and  radical  example.  - 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

EXCITING  TIMES  IN  PHILADELPHIA— ASSEMBLING  OF  THE  FIRST  CONGRESS— STRONG 
IMPRESSION  PRODUCED  BY  THE  VIRGINIANS— WASHINGTON  A.M<>N<;  THE  DELEGATES- 
NEWS  OF  THE  BRITISH  ATTACK  AT  LEXINGTON  AND  CONCORD  AND  THE  RESULT- 
SECOND  AND  THIRD  SESSIONS  OF  CONGRESS— THE  DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE. 

IN  these  troublous  days  there  is  for  the  patriot  and  the  daring 
violator  of  the  rights  of  the  King  and  of  his  deputies  a  certain 

fascination  in  the  consciousness  of  approaching  events  which  must 
end  all ;  which  must  dispel  uncertainty  and  either  destroy  utterly  or 
secure  absolutely  the  liberties  of  the  colonists  on  the  American  land. 
Things  have  gone  too  far  for  the  hope  of  forgiveness  on  either  side ; 
the  grievance  must  be  fought  out  and  the  question  settled  once  for  all. 
The  stiff-necked  Philadelphians,  with  their  flaming  appeals  to  their 
fellow-citizens,  their  uncompromising,  systematic  warfare  against  the 
interests  of  English  importers,  and  their  astounding  spirit  of  indepen- 
dence, not  to  say  defiance,  are  the  worst  of  the  lot,  and  the  King  and 
the  Parliament  both  have  their  eyes  on  them.  It  is  now  the  Penn 
boys  are  uneasy,  feeling,  perhaps,  that  it  was,  after  all,  a  great  mistake 
of  their  lamented  ancestor  to  put  his  money  and  his  labor  into  a  place 
which  only  grew  to  be  rebellious  and  infamous,  and,  if  the  truth  were 
known,  they  are,  perhaps,  a  little  apprehensive  lest  the  King  shall 
point  to  the  bad  fruits  of  old  William's  colonization  scheme  and  visit 
his  displeasure  upon  the  heads  of  his  progeny.  That  business  with 
the  "  Polly  "  was  an  overt  act  and  is  certain  to  have  consequences. 
Captain  Ayres  will  have  his  story  to  tell,  beyond  doubt,  the  moment 
he  touches  an  English  port,  and  although  the  affair  was  bad  enough  it 
is  more  than  probable  the  abused  skipper,  sailing  under  the  flag  of 
England  and  yet  tossed  about  like  a  football  at  the  behest  of  a  rough 
Philadelphia!!  mob,  will  not  allow  it  to  lose  anything  of  its  enormity  in 
his  narration  of  the  details.  That  he  will  have  a  multitude  of 
sympathizers  it  is  equally  sure,  especially  among  the  merchants  and 
dealers  in  stuffs  for  export ; — save,  perhaps,  those  who  traffic  in  tar  and 
its  downy  accompaniment,  the  demand  for  which  in  America  was  so 
persistently  enforced  upon  the  notice  of  the  "  Polly's  "  commander, 
much  to  his  dread  and  secret  apprehension. 

Also  the  English  brewers  have  a  right  to  be  displeased,  for  there  is 
the  Hibernia  Fire  Company  resolving  to  "  buy  no  more  foreign  beer," 

(125) 


126  THE  STORY  OF  AN  AMERICAN  CITY. 

a  decision  that  doubtless  means  much  in  the  way  of  a  falling-off  in  the 
consumption  of  the  liquid  product.  This  action  of  the  Hibernians 
may  be  accepted  as  an  example  of  sympathetic  and  practical  co-opera- 
tion with  the  opponents  of  tea  in  their  crusade  against  the  mild 
beverage,  though  it  must  in  fairness  be  admitted  that  the  members  of 
the  Hibernia  are  not  making  a  sacrifice  equal  in  degree  with  that  of 
the  tea-drinkers,  for,  while  they  have  resolved  to  abstain  from  drinking 
"  foreign  beer,"  they  have  also  decided  to  "  encourage  the  brewers  of 
Pennsylvania,"  an  act  of  magnanimity  and  patriotism  which  cannot 
be  emulated  by  the  drinkers  of  tea  since  Penn's  province  is  unhappily 
not  able  to  produce  the  fragrant  herb  that  has  lately  been  so  waste- 
fully  bestowed  upon  sharks  and  other  marine  monsters  of  the  harbor 
of  Boston. 

There  is  so  much  to  do  in  these  exciting  times  when  things  are 
moving  so  rapidly  toward  a  great  culmination.  The  Quaker  city  finds 
herself  the  centre,  the  vortex  of  Revolutionary  passion,  the  rendezvous 
of  patriots  and  agitators  alike,  the  seat  of  colonial  revolt,  the  very  roof- 
tree  of  the  vastly  aroused  American  populace  that  looks  toward  her 
hospitable  and  liberty-loving  spirit  and  fixes  its  hope  for  the  future  on 
the  wisdom  and  courage  of  her  citizens.  So,  now  as  the  memorable 
fourth  day  of  September  approaches  in  the  year  seventeen  hundred 
and  seventy-four,  when  the  first  Continental  Congress  shall  meet  to 
discuss  the  state  of  affairs  and  take  into  consideration  the  question  of 
a  plan  of  action,  public  interest  is  at  fever  heat  and  the  eyes  of  the 
world  are  turned  toward  the  American  city  on  the  Delaware.  Never 
before  in  the  ninety-two  years  of  its  history  has  the  town  of  Perm  been 
called  upon  to  meet  an  emergency  like  this.  It  must  provide  for  the 
comfort  and  entertainment  of  a  general  Congress,  at  which  will  be 
present  the  most  distinguished  men  of  every  colony,  and  the  manner 
in  which  the  delegates  shall  be  cared  for  will  either  add  to  or  detract 
from  the  credit  and  fame  of  the  city. 

Philadelphia,  however,  meets  the  task  with  readiness  and  uncon- 
cern. There  is  110  evidence  of  a  lack  of  anything  that  tends  to  con- 
tribute to  the  pleasure  and  well-being  of  its  guests.  Now  arises  011 
the  horizon  of  American  consciousness  the  names  which  later  become 
memorable  in  national  history — George  Washington,  Peyton  Ran- 
dolph, Richard  Henry  Lee,  John  Adams,  Samuel  Adams,  John  Jay, 
and  many  others.  The  Congress  assembles  in  Carpenter's  Hall,  the 
State  House  being  occupied  by  the  Provincial  Assembly  then  in  ses- 
sion and  therefore  not  available.  Delegates  are  present  from  eleven 
colonies  out  of  thirteen.  They  are  quartered  chiefly  in  the  City 


TSESIT7 


ASSEMBLING   OF   THE   FIRST   CONGRESS.  129 

Tavern,  on  Second  street  above  Walnut,  the  hostelrie  of  which  Phila- 
delphia boasts  since  it  is  considered  the  finest  hotel  in  America.  At 
ten  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  the  eventful  day  the  delegates  meet  there 
and  walk  to  the  hall  which  is  to  be  the  scene  of  their  deliberations. 
The  citizens  are  out  in  force  with  open,  eager  eyes  and  faces  betokening 
uncontrollable  interest  in  the  strangers  and  in  the  work  they  have 
before  them.  Of  all  the  visiting  delegates,  those  who  attract  most 
attention  are  the  Virginians.  Fine,  tall  men,  of  courtly  bearing  and 
dignified  manners,  their  deportment  gives  an  air  of  grandeur  and 
impressiveness  to  the  assemblage  which  marks  it  as  a  distinguished 
affair  from  the  beginning.  The  importance  of  the  Virginian  delega- 
tion, the  representatives  of  the  oldest  American  colony,  is  at  once  con- 
ceded in  the  election  of  Peyton  Randolph  as  President  of  the  Congress, 
while  Charles  Thomson,  of  Pennsylvania,  is  made  Secretary.  A  much 
interested  Philadelphia!!,  writing  to  a  friend,  says :  "  We  are  so  taken 
up  with  the  Congress  that  we  hardly  think  or  talk  of  anything  else. 
About  fifty  have  come  to  town  and  more  are  expected.  There  are 
some  fine  fellows  come  from  Virginia  but  they  are  very  high.  The 
Bostonians  are  mere  milksops  to  them.  We  understand  they  are  the 
capital  men  of  the  colony  both  in  fortune  and  understanding." 

It  is  not  improbable  that  the  men  from  Virginia,  who  are  so 
"very  high,"  are  impressed  with  their  importance  as  delegates  from 
the  oldest  American  province,  and  are  prepared  to  assert  their  rights 
in  matters  of  precedence.  The  selection  of  one  of  their  number  for 
President  of  the  Congress  doubtless  satisfies  them,  as  there  is  no 
evidence  of  any  disaffection  on  any  point  from  their  quarter. 

The  Congress  organizes  with  the  officers  mentioned,  but,  being 
new  and  untried,  does  not  know  itself ;  sectarianism  is  rife,  and  when 
Thomas  Cushing,  of  Massachusetts,  offers  a  motion  to  open  the  session 
with  prayer,  Delegates  Jay  and  Rutledge  oppose  it,  being  prompted  by 
a  desire  to  not  arouse  the  followers  of  conflicting  beliefs,  since  the 
assemblage  is  made  up  of  Quakers,  Episcopalians,  Anabaptists,  Presby- 
terians and  Congregationalists.  The  ready  mind  and  prompt  action 
of  Samuel  Adams,  however,  saves  the  Congress  from  the  possibility  of 
a  church  wrangle  in  the  beginning.  He  arises,  and,  with  every  eye 
fixed  upon  him,  tells  the  assemblage  that  he  is  no  bigot  and  "  can  hear 
a  prayer  from  any  gentleman  of  piety  and  virtue  who  is  a  friend  to 
his  country."  He  moves  that  the  Rev.  Mr.  Duche  be  invited  to 
read  prayers  at  the  opening  of  the  Congress  on  the  following  day,  and 
the  motion  being  carried  the  clerical  gentleman  appears  at  the  ap- 


130  THE  STORY  OF  AN  AMERICAN  CITY. 

pointed  time  with  this  clerks  and  in  his  pontifical  robes  and  reads 
several  prayers  in  the  established  form. 

Things  are  getting  out  of  the  hands  of  the  mob  into  those  of  a 
recognized  representative  body.  The  Congress  fulfills  the  need  and  the 
popular  desire  of  the  times.  The  people  observe  it  moves  slowly  and 
with  dignity  and  they  are  becoming  accustomed  to  look  to  it  to  remedy 
all  their  wrongs.  There  is  no  denunciation  of  the  King  in  this  body. 
Everything  is  conservative  and  Parliamentary.  The  Congress  appeals 
to  Great  Britain — a  last  appeal — for  justice  to  the  people  of  the  colonies. 
It  is,  nevertheless,  not  deterred  from  speaking  plainly  and  firmly  on 
matters  of  immediate  importance  to  American  citizens ;  and  a  plea 
goes  forth  from  it  to  the  residents  of  all  the  colonies  on  behalf  of  the 
people  of  Massachusetts,  calling  for  material  aid.  There  is  also  posi- 
tive action  taken  against  importations,  and  a  permanent  association 
is  formed  in  order  to  insure  the  observance  of  a  non-importing  resolu- 
tion. Likewise  a  declaration  of  rights  is  adopted  ;  and  in  addition  to 
this  a  memorial  to  the  people  of  Great  Britain,  setting  forth  the 
wrongs  the  colonies  are  suffering  from  and  aiming  to  place  the 
Americans  in  the  right  light  before  the  British  public. 

This  constitutes  the  work  of  the  Congress  and  it  adjourns.  The 
delighted  Philadelphians  will  not  let  the  members  return  home  just 
yet,  however.  The  city  has  had  its  first  experience  with  a  national 
gathering,  or  what  is  equivalent  to  one,  and  begins  to  feel  accustomed 
to  the  business  of  taking  care  of  large  assemblages.  The  gentlemen  of 
Philadelphia  must  banquet  the  Congress  in  the  State  House,  and  the 
Congress  courteously  accepts.  There  are  five  hundred  persons  present 
and  the  affair  is  pronounced  grand  beyond  anything  hitherto  known 
in  the  city.  After  this  banquet  the  Congress  must  also  accept  invita- 
tion to  a  dinner  in  its  honor  in  the  City  Tavern.  The  Congress  assents 
to  this  mark  of  courtesy  likewise,  and  some  of  the  Quaker  citizens 
participate.  John  Adams,  whose  eye  is  ever  observant,  notices  two  of 
the  sect  of  Penn  and  overhears  their  remarks  when  a  toast  is  pro- 
posed in  the  interest  of  conciliation : — "  May  the  sword  of  the  parent 
never  be  stained  with  the  blood  of  her  children."  One  of  the  Friends 
ventures  the  opinion  :  "  This  is  not  a  toast,  but  a  prayer  ;  come,  let  us 
join  in  it,"  a  suggestion  which  is  at  once  accepted. 

The  work  of  the  Congress  having  closed  for  the  session  the  Penn- 
sylvaniaii  Assembly  approves  what  has  been  done.  Great  projects  are 
occupying  Philadelphia  now  in  addition  to  its  duties  in  the  way  of 
statesmanship.  The  Schuylkill  river  must  have  a  bridge,  the  activity 
and  the  needs  of  the  city  and  of  the  people  outside  having  outgrown 


_ 


NEWS    OF    THE    BRITISH  ATTACK   AT    LEXINGTON.  133 


the  ferry.  In  spite  of  the  action  of  the  Congress  in  petitioning  the 
King  for  a  redress  of  grievances  things  are  going  forward  in  a  way  that 
would  seem  to  show  little  faith  in  the  considerateness  of  the  royal  per- 
sonage. Organizations  are  being  formed  for  the  encouragement  of 
domestic  manufactures  ;  gunpowder  being  especially  an  article  the  pro- 
duction of  which  interests  the  Philadelphian  public.  A  socipfy  is  / 
founded  early  in  the  year  seventeen  hundred  and  seventy-five  to 
encourage  the  manufacture  of  woolen  goods.  Invention  is  beginning 
to  show  itself  in  the  Pennsylvania!!  colony.  James  Hazel  offers  to  \ 
exhibit  to  the  Wool  Manufacturing  Society  an  apparatus  that  will 
enable  a  girl  ten  years  of  age  to  tend  forty-eight  spindles  and  card 
three  hundred  and  sixty  pairs  of  cards.  Other  inventors  appear  also 
with  machines  ;  and  John  Hague  and  Christopher  Tulley  are  fortunate 
enough  to  get  fifteen  pounds  each  as  a  gift  from  the  Assembly  for  pro- 
ducing machines  intended  to  faciliate  the  spinning  of  cotton.  The 
Society  finds  plenty  to  do,  and  finally  a  factory  is  secured  at  Ninth  and 
Market  streets,  where  farmers  are  invited  to  bring  their  wool  and  flax. 
Trade  in  the  colony  is  flourishing  and  scarcely  a  week  passes  in  which 
some  branch  of  manufacture  is  not  established  in  Philadelphia. 

From  domestic  trade  and  its  condition  the  mind  is  diverted  by  the 
sound  of  hoofs  travelling  rapidly  from  an  easterly  direction.  A  horse- 
man from  Trenton  gallops  into  town.  It  is  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon 
of  the  24th  of  April,  year  seventeen  hundred  and  seventy-five.  The 
rider  has  startling  news.  General  Gage  marched  out  of  Boston  on 
the  night  of  the  18th  of  April  with  his  soldiers  and  crossing  to  Cam- 
bridge fired  upon  and  killed  a  number  of  the  militia  at  Lexington, 
besides  destroying  property  at  Concord. 

Patriotic  Philadelphia  rises  in  the  morning  and  takes  to  the  street. 
The  news  of  the  killing  of  the  militia  in  Massachusetts  by  British 
troops  fires  every  heart  and  drives  men  fairly  into  a  frenzy.  The 
populace  moves  with  one  accord  toward  the  State  House.  There  can 
be  no  meeting  there  because  the  crowd  is  too  large.  The  Committee 
on  Correspondence,  charged  with  the  duty  of  keeping  up  communica- 
tion with  the  colonies,  takes  the  matter  up.  The  Committee  knows 
its  business  and  the  mob  is  satisfied.  It  passes  a  resolution  brief 
but  to  the  point  recommending  that  all  citizens  "  associate  together 
to  defend  with  arms  their  property,  liberty  and  lives  against  all  attempts 
to  deprive  them  of  it."  The  resolution  serves  its  purpose  and  meets 
the  approval  of  all.  Deliberate  assemblages  are  all  right,  but  now 
there  is  something  of  more  immediate  importance  calling  for  attention. 
Men  must  be  drilled,  they  must  be  equipped  with  arms.  The  crisis 


THE  STORY  OF  AX  AMERICAN  CITY. 


is  coming  and  all  may  see  it.  The  enrollment  of  men  begins  at 
once.  The  Committee  on  Correspondence  calls  upon  everybody  who 
has  arms  to  let  the  fact  be  known.  Two  troops  of  light  horse,  two 
companies  of  riflemen  and  two  companies  of  artillery  with  brass  and 
iron  field-pieces  must  be  formed  immediately. 

Strange  transformation  wrought  by  time  and  circumstances  !  If 
old  William  Penn,  in  spirit  and  consciousness,  could  look  upon  the 
scene  in  this  hour,  with  its  platoons  of  raw  but  eager  fighters,  the  clank- 
ing of  swords  and  the  click  of  the  musket-locks,  what  sensations  would 
fill  the  mind  of  the  peace-loving  leader  of  the  non-militant  sect  and 
founder  of  Philadelphia  !  Well  would  it  have  been  for  him  and  for 
the  interests  of  his  progeny  if  he  had  exercised  some  of  that  strict 
vigilance  which  distinguished  the  Puritans  in  the  matter  of  choosing 
their  company,  and  not  allowed  his  Pennsylvania!!  colony  to  acquire 
such  a  cosmopolitan  character.  But  now  it  is  useless  to  ponder  and 
lament  over  what  cannot  be  remedied.  Ninety -three  years  have 
passed  since  Penn  founded  his  colony  and  surely  the  three  genera- 
tions which  have  flourished  on  this  particular  part  of  the  American 
soil  have  learned  something  in  the  intervening  space  of  time  regarding 
the  rights  of  men,  especially  since  the  gates  of  the  city  have  been  wide- 
open  and  the  stranger,  whether  agitator,  philosopher  or  patriot,  from 
whatever  clime,  has  been  made  welcome.  The  seed  has  been  sown  by 
many  hands,  and  King  George  himself  has  unwittingly  furnished  the 
stimulating  heat  necessary  to  hasten  a  bounteous  crop  of  aggressive 
American  patriot3.  Yet,  true  to  their  doctrines,  the  order-loving 
Quakers,  with  a  few  exceptions,  look  with  disapproval  on  any  move 
that  savors  of  disloyalty  to  the  King.  Particularly  are  they  displeased 
with  these  new  committees  and  associations  which  are  springing  up  so 
numerously  ;  and  even  the  holding  of  this  Continental  Congress  is  a 
thing  that  should  be  frowned  upon.  Those  erring  members  of  the  sect 
who  have  united  with  the  violent  elements  of  the  colony  are  made  sub- 
jects for  discipline,  and  through  the  medium  of  their  meetings  there  is 
sent  forth  "  solemn  testimony  against  resistance  and  violence."  The 
meeting  "  for  sufferings  for  New  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania  "  issues  an 
epistle  addressed  to  those  who  have  strayed  from  the  peace-loving  path 
which  says  in  its  mild  way  :  "  Some  Friends  have  been  carried  away 
by  the  excitement  of  the  day.  They  must  be  brought  back  to  old- 
time  allegiance  to  the  King  ;  they  must  be  admonished.  These  erring- 
brethren  must  be  reclaimed  and  shown  the  error  of  their  ways,  in 
affection  and  brotherly  love.  They  have  joined  associations  and  given 
pledges  and  engaged  in  public  affairs  such  as  lead  them  to  deviate  from 


to 


PENNSYLVANIA  HriLDixd  AT  TIII-:  WOKI.M'S  Fxis,  C 

Tower  modeled  after  that  of  Independence  Hall. 


THTI7BRSITT 


THE   SECOND   SESSION   OF   CONGRESS. 


our  religious  principles,  which  teach  us  not  to  contend 

all,  not  even  liberty.     It  is  a  part  of  the  Divine 

to  avoid  anything  tending  to  disaffection  to  the  Kino-   aii<l  the   Ir^nl 

authority  of  his  government  ;  we  must  not  approach  him  hut  with  loyal 

and  respectful  addresses." 

And  following  this  avowal  of  loyalty  the  testimony  was  moved 
"publicly  to  declare  against  every  usurpation  of  power  and  authority 
in  opposition  to  the  laws  and  government  and  against  all  combinations, 
insurrections,  conspiracies  and  illegal  assemblies,"  including  the  Con- 
gress itself. 

Strange  words  to  read  on  the  eve  of  a  Declaration  of  Indepen- 
dence which,  going  forth,  thrills  the  world.  Yet,  did  not  the  Quakers 
come  honestly  by  their  principles  of  non-resistance  ?  Their  patience 
and  meekness  of  spirit  had  been  proved  by  the  thumb-screws  and  at 
the  whipping-posts  of  England  and  did  they  preserve  their  belief 
through  all  their  tribulations  and  distress  in  the  land  of  their  origin 
only  to  surrender  it  now  in  a  clime  where  their  lot  was  so  much 
happier  and  their  condition  so  much  improved  '?  Many  of  the  non- 
resisting  sect  who  were  averse  to  aiding  the  patriots  publicly  did  so 
secretly  ;  and  one  of  them,  Samuel  Wetherill,  spoke  plain  words 
against  the  "  testimony  "  put  out  by  the  Friends'  meeting,  telling  his 
brethren  in  brief  terms  that  man  was  not  infallible  and  he  was  not 
ready  to  affirm  his  belief  that  the  patriots  were  wrong  and  the  Friends 
right. 

Non-resistance  !  What  a  small,  almost  infinitesimal,  speck  the 
image  of  the  word  makes  on  the  lowering,  angry  horizon  of  this  vigor- 
ous, growing,  aggressive  city  of  Philadelphia  at  this  time,  when  the 
news  of  Lexington  and  Concord  is  fresh  in  the  ears  !  Beneath  the  calm 
exterior  of  the  representatives  of  the  people,  composing  the  Committee 
011  Correspondence  and  other  patriot  bodies,  there  is  the  consciousness 
of  a  growing  powerful  force  generated  by  the  hopes,  the  expectations 
and  the  angry  impatience  of  the  masses,  who  will  have  no  backward 
course.  Their  faces  are  set  towards  liberty  and  independence  and  they 
arc  ready,  willing,  eager  to  sacrifice  their  lives  for  the  principles  in 
which  they  believe,  but  there  must  be  no  temporizing,  no  betrayal  of 
their  cause.  Woe  to  the  man,  or  the  committee  of  men,  who  may 
attemnt  to  act  treacherously  !  The  second  session  of  the  Congress  will 
begin  on  the  10th  of  May,  year  seventeen  hundred  and  seventy-live, 
and  the  State  House  is  already  being  got  in  trim  for  the  notable  event. 
This  Congress  is  doing  wonders  for  Philadelphia,  —  or  is  Philadelphia 
doing  wonders  for  the  Congress?  Here  is  the  principal  city  in  America 


138  THE  STORY  OF  AN  AMERICAN  CITY. 

founded  as  the  seat  of  the  peace-loving,  non-resisting  sect,  and  yet  what 
an  example  of  aggressiveness  and  organized,  armed  resistance  it  is 
setting  for  the  cities  and  towns  of  the  other  colonies  !  There  is  reason 
to  believe  that  the  Congress  likes  the  atmosphere  of  the  stirring,  inde- 
pendent city,  and  that  the  whiffs  of  gunpowder  which  now  and  then 
touch  its  nostrils  are  not  at  all  displeasing  but  rather  have  the  effect 
of  causing  some  of  the  Massachusetts  and  Virginian  members  to  look 
at  each  other  slyly  and  snap  the  lids  of  one  eye  together  furtively,  if 
any  of  the  gentlemen  composing  such  a  distinguished  body  may  be  sup- 
posed to  ever  indulge  in  acts  that  border  so  closely  on  levity.  Surely 
the  Congress  is  feeling  its  way,  slowly,  cautiously  ;  doing  nothing  in 
haste  or  rashness,  but  keeping  an  eye  on  the  temper  of  the  people  and 
avoiding  every  issue  but  the  supreme  one.  Did  not  the  Massachusetts 
Baptists  come  before  it  at  this  second  session  and  demand  a  change  in 
the  statutes  of  that  Puritan  stronghold  in  order  that  they  might  enjoy 
more  liberty  and  justice,  and  did  not  John  Hancock,  John  Adams  and 
other  members  of  the  State's  delegation  in  Congress  tell  them  sharply 
that  it  was  not  a  Congressional  matter  but  a  matter  belonging  to  the 
colony  itself, — the  first  instance  on  record  of  the  assertion  of  the  doc- 
trine of  State  rights  in  America. 

With  all  the  preparation  for  the  Congress  and  the  agitation  of 
great  questions  and  the  burning  excitement  of  the  times  in  this  feverish, 
violent  transition  period  the  industrial  growth  of  Philadelphia  con- 
tinues with  amazing  rapidity.  John  Elliott  and  Company  start  a 
glassworks  in  Kensington  ;  AVilliam  Calverly  begins  to  make  fine 
carpets  in  Loxley's  Court ;  Richard  Wills  builds  and  operates  a  sperma- 
ceti works  at  Sixth  and  Arch  streets,  and  brewer  Hare  is  turning 

o 

out  excellent  American  porter.  What  is  more  to  the  point,  there 
springs  into  being  a  good  many  manufacturers  of  saltpetre,  and  powder 
and  lead  are  treasured  as  they  have  never  been  before. 

Amidst  all  the  excitement  of  the  approaching  session  of  the  Con- 
gress, and  the  drilling  of  newly-enrolled  bands  of  militia,  a  work 
which  had  been  going  on  ever  since  the  receipt  of  the  news  from  Lex- 
ington and  Concord,  the  city  was  thrown  into  a  delirium  of  joy  over 
an  unexpected,  most  auspicious  occurrence — the  arrival  home  of  Ben- 
jamin Franklin  from  his  long  residence  abroad  as  foreign  agent  of  the 
Colonies.  It  was  evening  011  the  fifth  day  of  May  when  the  philoso- 
pher, statesman,  and  man  of  universal  affairs  reached  the  city  which 
had  acquired  so  much  that  was  beneficial  and  progressive  from  the 
former  service  of  this  citizen  of  stupendous  executive  and  business  ca- 
pacity and  supreme  mastery  of  details.  Absent  from  his  native  shore 


TOI  TSS   '^ 

[U1ITBESIT7] 
A 


THE  COMMITTEE  OF  SAFETY  ORGANIZED.  141 

for  a  period  of  eighteen  years  and  latterly  badgered,  pestered  and 
bedevilled  by  the  English  Parliament  and  its  agents  for  his  staunch 
pos-ition  on  the  question  of  American  affairs,  and  his  protests  against 
oppression  and  injustice,  he  had  returned  at  the  right  time, — the  man 
for  the  hour.  Forthwith  patriotic  Philadelphia  shines  with  illumina- 
tion, the  name  of  Franklin  is  heard  on  every  hand,  and  the  citizens 
go  fairly  wild  in  their  transports  of  joy.  The  glad  words  "  Franklin 
is  here  !  Franklin  is  here  !  "  are  echoed  in  every  street  as  the  joyous 
news  flies  fram  house  to  house.  The  Provincial  Assembly  is  in  session 
and  its  first  act  on  the  morning  following  Franklin's  arrival  is  to  elect 
him  a  delegate  to  the  Congress  which  will  meet  in  the  ensuing  week. 

At  once  chaos  assumes  the  semblance  of  order,  excitement  cools, 
and  the  influence  of  this  wonderful  man  is  felt  on  every  side.  Fresh 
from  the  source  of  all  colonial  troubles  the  great  American  knows 
the  temper  of  the  enemy,  has  foreseen  its  plans  and  sets  himself  to 
work  to  meet  and  cope  with  them.  First  he  organizes  the  Commit- 
tee of  Safety,  the  members  of  which  are  appointed  by  the  Assembly, 
thus  starting  with  an  official  authoritative  footing;  and  this  body 
quickly  supplants  the  cumbrous  Committee  on  Correspondence  which 
was  appointed,  not  by  any  regular  constituted  body,  but  by  citizens  as- 
•sembled  in  a  town  meeting.  Franklin  himself,  as  President  of  the 
Committee  of  Safety,  convenes  it  every  morning  at  six  o'clock  in  order 
that  its  meetings  may  not  interfere  with  the  sessions  of  Congress,  of 
which  he  is  a  member.  The  Committee  of  Safety  virtually  takes  the 
place  of  State  and  city  governments.  It  provides  for  arming  and 
equipping  the  militia,  gets  together  a  collection  of  craft  more  or  less 
queer  and  experimental,  and  forms  a  local  navy,  regularly  officered 
and  manned  ;  obstructs  the  Delaware  and  erects  a  fortification  or  two, 
and  attends  to  nearly  all  the  business  relating  to  the  public  business 
of  the  city. 

The  Congress  assembling  on  the  tenth  of  May  finds  itself  fairly 
bewildered  in  the  presence  of  the  excitement  and  activity  in  Philadel- 
phia. John  Hancock,  the  new  President,  is  the  recipient  of  an  unex- 
pected honor;  nearly  two  thousand  members  of  the  militia,  fully 
armed  and  equipped,  turning  out  to  receive  him,  the  command  includ- 
ing- six  guns,  two  twelve-pounders,  and  four  brass  six-pounders,  and  a 
troop  of  light  horse.  If  any  doubt  on  the  question  of  the  seriousness 
of  the  people  of  Philadelphia,  in  their  determination  to  resist  the  au- 
thority of  the  King,  has  existed  in  the  minds  of  the  Congress,  it  is  now 
dispelled.  The  Congress  itself  is  non-committal  for  the  present.  It 
views  the  militia  going  through  its  manoeuvres  a  month  later  and  is 


142  THE    STORY   OF   AX    AMERICAN   CITY. 

considerably  impressed.  Yet  it  is  a  most  dignified  conservative  body 
representing  the  brains  of  all  the  colonies ;  it  knows  when  to  speak 
and  when  to  keep  its  counsel.  Before  it  has  been  in  session  two 
months  Massachusetts  has  cut  away  her  allegiance  to  the  King  and 
adopted  a  constitution  of  her  own  making.  New  Hampshire  follows 
her  example  a  few  days  later.  Then  the  provinces  in  the  South  fall 
into  the  procession  of  independent  colonies,  South  Carolina  being  the 
third  to  cut  adrift  from  the  governmental  craft  of  King  George. 

The  Congress  in  the  meanwhile  has  kept  quiet,  doing  nothing 
overt  or  rash,  but  watching  the  colonies  drop  from  the  parent  stem  as 
the  skilled  physician  might  watch  his  patients  leap  into  strength  after 
he  has  administered  a  potent  stimulant.  The  winter  passes  and  Mas- 
sachusetts, New  Hampshire  and  South  Carolina  stand  as  the  three 
independent  colonies  out  of  the  thirteen.  Congress  on  the  fifteenth  day 
of  May,  seventeen  hundred  and  seventy-six,  feels  that  the  time  has  come 
to  give  an  impetus  to  the  movement  for  independence.  Accordingly  on 
this  day  it  adopts  a  resolution  recommending  that  all  the  colonies  fol- 
low the  example  of  the  three  which  have  severed  their  relations  with 
King  George.  North  Carolina,  Rhode  Island  and  Virginia  instruct 
their  delegates  in  Congress  to  concur  with  delegates  from  other  colonies 
in  declaring  independence  and  in  forming  foreign  alliance.  The  Con- 
gress meantime  has  thrown  open  the  ports  of  the  country  to  all  nations, 
and  has  opened  correspondence  with  foreign  powers.  Silas  Deane  has 
been  sent  to  France,  with  which  nation  an  alliance  may  soon  be  expected. 

Colonial  independence  must  be  hastened.  This,  at  least,  is  the 
view1  of  Virginia,  which,  in  convention  at  Williamsburg  on  the  four- 
teenth day  of  May  unanimously  adopts  resolutions,  drawn  by  Edmund 
Pendleton  and  advocated  by  Patrick  Henry,  to  the  effect  that  "the 
delegates  appointed  to  represent  the  colony  in  the  general  Congress  be 
instructed  to  propose  to  that  respectable  body  to  declare  the  united 
colonies  free  and  independent  States,  absolved  from  all  allegiance  to 
or  dependent  upon  the  Crown  or  Parliament  of  Great  Britain. 

The  resolutions  as  adopted  are  carried  to  Philadelphia  to  the  Con- 
gress by  their  mover,  and  thus  the  "  respectable  body  "  has  something 
for  its  consideration  of  a  nature  not  distasteful.  On  the  seventh  day 
of  June  Virginia  again  distinguishes  itself  when  Richard  Henry  Lee 
rises  in  Congress  and  offers  a  resolution  that  "  these  united  colonies  are 
and  of  right  ought  to  be,  free  and  independent  States ;  that  they  are 
absolved  from  all  allegiance  to  the  British  Crown,  and  that  all  political 
connection  between  them  and  Great  Britain  is  and  ought  to  be  totally 
dissolved." 


=3 


ll 

lr 

r.  — 


UJI7SRSITT 


VIRGINIA   DISTINGUISHES   HKKSKLF    IX   CONGRESS.  1-J."> 


Bold  words  coming  from  one  of  the  representative  ...  the  oldest  --.I' 
American  colonies  !  Where  now  is  that  loyal  sentiment  which,  crystal- 
lizing in  the  days  of  the  great  Elizabeth  and  fraught  with  respecl  and 
affection,  before  there  was  any  city  of  Philadelphia  or  any  Pennsyl- 
vania, or  any  William  Penn  for  that  matter,  bestowed  upon  the  beau- 
tiful regicm  with  its  varying  topography  of  tidal  plains  and  uplands 
and  blue-crowned  hills  and  misty  mountain  peaks,  the  euphonious 
name,  Virginia!  Where  is  the  idea  of  reverence  and  blind  alle- 
giance which  found  spontaneous  expression  when  the  London  Com- 
pany's colonists,  with  their  utensils  and  household  effects,  their  car- 
penters and  artisans,  sailed  up  the  winding  river  away  from  the 
treacherous  location  of  Albemarle  and  reaching  a  green,  shaded  spot 
on  the  banks  of  the  stream  far  from  its  mouth,  named  the  river  after 
their  sovereign  and  likewise  honored  him  in  the  designation  of  their 
town,  Jamestown  ! 

Yet,  many  things  have  happened  since  that  memorable  day ;  one 
hundred  and  sixty-nine  years  have  come  and  gone  and  the  Virginian 
colony,  become  great  through  hardships  and  much  tribulation,  looks 
back  already  with  that  reverence  evoked  by  age  on  the  name  and 
memories  of  Jamestown.  Perhaps  those  memories  stir  the  emotions  of 
this  descendant  of  the  early  settlers  as  he  pens  the  memorable  words, 
"  These  united  colonies  are  and  of  right  ought  to  be  free  and  inde- 
pendent states;"  and  as  he  rises  in  the  Congress — yet  in  its  infancy 
and  feeling  its  way  at  every  step — in  Philadelphia's  State  House,  and 
reads  the  inspiring  words  small  wonder  if  all  other  business  be  forgot- 
ten and  the  Congress,  through  its  best  and  ablest  representatives, 
debates  the  matter  all  the  following  day  and  then  refers  it  to  the  Com- 
mittee of  the  Whole,  Benjamin  Harrison,  of  Virginia,  Chairman. 

The  Committee  debates  it  all  the  following  day,  Saturday,  and 
reports  progress  and  asks  leave  to  sit  again  on  Monday.  Momentous 
([iiestioii  !•  Can  any  one  foresee  the  outcome  ?  On  the  eventful  Monday 
the  debate  is  renewed  and  continues  for  hours  when  Edward  Rutledgc. 
patriot  of  South  Carolina,  creates  consternation  in  the  breasts  of  some  of 
the  warmest  advocates  of  the  resolution  by  moving  its  postponement 
for  three  weeks  !  What  is  the  meaning  of  this  attempt  to  delay? 
Nothing  insidious  or  detrimental  to  the  cause  of  liberty,  gentlemen  of 
the  Congress.  Some  of  the  colonies  are  not  yet  ready  to  come  into  the 
union  of  independent  States,  but  their  best  men  are  hard  at  work  at 
home  and  they  soon  will  stand  abreast  of  Virginia  and  Massachusetts 
and  New  Hampshire.  Give  them  a  little  time,  for  the  outcome  is  sure. 
Accordingly  the  resolution  goes  over  until  July  1st,  but  not  without  a 


146  THE  STORY  OF  AN  AMERICAN  CITY, 


provision  which  anticipates  its  adoption  and  pleases  Richard  Henry 
Lee  exceedingly — a  resolution  setting  forth  that  "in  the  meanwhile 
that  no  time  be  lost  in  case  the  Congress  agree  thereto,  that  a  Committee 
be  appointed  to  prepare  a  declaration  to  the  effect  of  the  first  said 
resolution." 

A  wise  and  fit  provision  and  one  which  will  make  the  resolution 
all  the  more  impressive  and  weighty  when  adopted.  The  Congress 
next  day  selects  the  Committee,  Thomas  Jefferson,  the  youngest  of  the 
Virginian  delegation,  who  wields  a  ready  pen  and  who  is  looked  upon 
as  one  of  the  very  ablest  of  the  States'  representatives ;  John  Adams 
of  Massachusetts,  Benjamin  Franklin  of  Pennsylvania,  Roger  Sherman 
of  Connecticut  and  Robert  R.  Livingston  of  New  York.  Discrimina- 
ting Congress  !  In  the  make-up  of  this  small  but  important  Committee 
the  four  oldest  colonies,  Virginia,  Massachusetts,  New  York  and  Penn- 
sylvania are  represented — an  eminently  proper  selection.  Virginia  has 
its  place  of  honor-throughout  all  the  proceedings  attending  the  birth 
of  the  great  Declaration.  Thomas  Jefferson  is  made  Chairman  of  the 
Committee  and  is  delegated  by  his  colleagues  to  write  the  document. 
He  has  three  weeks  in  which  to  perform  the  work.  The  young 
Virginian  goes  to  his  room  in  the  residence  of  Jacob  Graff,  Jr.,  brick- 
layer,— who,  like  many  other  of  the  mechanics  and  artisans  of  Phila- 
delphia, is  the  owner  of  the  house  in  which  he  dwells,  southwest 
comer  of  Seventh  and  Market  streets, — and  locking  himself  in  his 
room  proceeds  with  the  great  work  with  which  he  is  charged. 

Patriotic  America  is  now  in  a  fever  heat  of  expectation,  anticipa- 
tion and  wild  demonstrativeness.  The  Congress  has  placed  its  hand 
on  the  lever :  it  has  but  to  give  one  determined  push  and  a  new  nation 
will  be  called  into  being  on  this  western  continent.  Will  the  Congress 
fail  ? — will  it  refuse  to  move  the  lever  and  thus  disappoint  the  hopes 
of  the  people  ?  Three  weeks  postponement !  To  the  impatient  patriot 
it  seems  like  an  age.  There  are  so  many  risks  involved — so  many 
little  slips  in  the  pathway  of  this  cherished  boon  of  liberty  and  inde- 
pendence. It  is  too  good  to  succeed.  Yet,  has  not  the  Congress  taken 
a  significant  step  in  the  right  direction?  Why  appoint  a  committee 
to  prepare  a  Declaration  to  accompany  the  resolution  if  it  does  not  in- 
tend to  adopt  the  resolution  itself?  This  is  well,  but  supposing  the 
Congress  is  mistaken  on  the  question  of  its  strength  in  favor  of  the 
resolution !  It  may  be  defeated  after  all  and  then  all  the  hopes  and 
expectations  in  connection  with  liberty  and  independence  are  as 
withered  grass  on  the  drouth-stricken  field. 

Thus  do  the  hopes  and  fears  of  the  patriots  alternate.     In  the 


I>!'TIKS   OF   THE   COMMITTEE   OF   SAFETY.  149 


meanwhile  the  ever-watchful  Committee  of  Safety,  with  the  indefatig- 
able Franklin  at  its  head,  continues  its  duties  which  are  anything  but 
light ;  continues  to  meet  at  six  o'clock  in  the  morning  .and  receive  re- 
ports and  apportion  its  work  among  the  various  sub-committees.  Of 
these  the  Committee  on  Inspection  is  one  of  the  most  important.  It 
has  much  business  at  the  wharves  and  warehouses;  keeps  it  eyes  wide 
open  to  note  whether  any  of  the  merchants  are  receiving  contraband 
goods,  in  violation  of  the  non-importation  agreement.  Now  and  then 
it  ferrets  out  a  consignment  of  wines,  or  a  package  of  the  hated  tea, 
either  smuggled  in  from  a  vessel  direct  or  stealthily  conveyed  from 
that  thrifty  trading  centre,  New  York  ;  or  it  may  be  that  molasses, 
coffee,  chocolate,  sugar,  salt  and  pepper  have  been  covertly  landed 
and  lodged  in  the  cellar  of  one  or  more  of  the  enterprising  Philadel- 
phian  merchants.  If  so,  and  the  Committee  on  Inspection  discovers 
the  illicit  business,  woe  to  the  violator  of  the  popular  law,  or  rather, 
agreement,  which,  supported  by  the  overwhelming  sentiment  of  the 
people  who  sustain  the  Committee  of  Safety,  has  all  the  binding 
force  of  law  duly  enacted.  Once  detected  the  merchant  shall  not 
only  lose  his1  goods,  which  must  be  confiscated  and  sold  at  auction, 
but  he  loses  his  character  as  well,  and  will  be  published  broadcast 
as  an  enemy  to  the  country,  and  one  who  is  to  be  avoided  by  every 
patriot. 

The  Committee  of  Safety  finds  plenty  to  do  likewise  in  another  di- 
rection. Mr.  So-and-so,  whose  Tory  sympathies  are  well  known,  has 
been  speaking  slightingly  of  the  Congress.  The  Committee  at  once  ap- 
prehends him,  demands  a  retraction,  and  shows  so  much  sternness 
about  it  that  the  offender  finds  it  expedient  to  humbly  take  back  the 
objectionable  words  and  "  to  beg  the  pardon  of  Congress."  One  unpa- 
triotic citizen,  a  butcher,  finds  it  best  to  publicly  avow  that  his  disre- 
spectful words  about  Congress  were  prompted  by  "  the  most  contracted 
notions  of  the  British  constitution  and  the  rights  of  human  nature.'* 
I  Ie  asks  pardon  of  Congress  and  will  not  reflect  upon  it  again.  An- 
other unsympathizing  and  talkative  person  confesses  he  was  much  to 
blame  for  having  spoken  slightingly  of  the  cause  of  libert}^  and  inde- 
pendence, and  he  promises  to  do  better  henceforth.  Still  another  who 
has  vilified  Congress  is  held  up  as  a  spectacle  before  the  populace  and 
compelled  to  beg  pardon  of  the  respectable  and  important  body  in  ses- 
sion at  the  State  House,  and  to  promise  to  not  again  b-  guilty  «>f  the 
same  offence. 

These  multifarious  duties  of  the  Committee  of  Safety  assuredly 
keep  it  busy  and  inspire  a  wholesome  dread  of  its  power  in  the  minds 


150  THE  STORY  OF  AS   AMERICAN  CITY. 


of  the  non-sympathizers.  The  Committee  likewise  keeps  actively  at 
work  enrolling  new  recruits  in  the  militia,  forming  a  local  navy,  fixing 
the  price  of  the  necessaries  of  life  in  order  that  monopolists  may  not 
take  advantage  of  the  time  and  the  situation  and  exact  exorbitant 
rates  from  the  people  for  supplies.  With  such  an  alert,  vigilant  and 
capable  body  looking  after  affairs  in  the  city  and  so  zealously  protect- 
ing its  good  name  the  Congress  can  occupy  itself  with  matters  of 
more  weighty,  more  general  and  more  far-reaching  effect  and  impor- 
tance. 

Through  all  this  seething,  foaming  and  raging  of  the  vast  aggre- 
gate of  excited  human  passion  the  Congress  moves  placidly  to  the  event- 
ful date,  the  first  day  of  July.  A  vast  crowd  of  citizens  of  all  classes 
is  assembled  about  the  State  House  in  the  morning,  as  the  members 
slowly  wend  their  way  to  the  place  of  meeting.  There  is  something 
•electrical,  magnetic,  contagious  in  the  expectation  and  excitement  of  the 
great  throng.  The  members  see  it  and  feel  it.  The  Congress  having 
come  to  order  the  resolution  of  Richard  Henry  Lee  "  respecting  inde- 
pendence "  is  reported  by  Benjamin  Harrison,  Chairman  of  the  Com- 
mittee of  the  Whole.  South  Carolina  asks  that  it  be  laid  over  until 
the  following  day,  much  to  the  disappointment  and  chagrin  of  the  pa- 
triot multitude  outside.  The  Carolinian  State  is  all  right,  nevertheless  ; 
only  wishes  to  have  the  thing  more  secure  by  giving  her  own  people 
down  on  the  coast  a  chance  to  be  heard  "by  word  of  mouth,"  as  it 
were,  in  favor  of  independence  before  the  notable  words  are  spoken  and 
accepted  as  its  fiat  by  Congress. 

This  second  of  July  witnesses  no  abatement  of  the  throng 
which  hems  in  State  House  and  Congress.  The  resolution  is  taken  up 
and  adopted.  The  business  is  not  yet  complete,  however.  There  is 
the  Declaration  which  must  go  forth  to  the  world  with  it,  or  as  nearly 
after  it  as  circumstances  will  permit,  and  the  young  Virginian  with  the 
ready  pen  and  the  quick  comprehension  of  political  science,  Thomas 
Jefferson,  is  ready  to  report  it  from  the  Committee  of  which  he  is 
Chairman.  For  three  days  the  notable  paper  is  discussed  in  Commit- 
tee of  the  Whole,  July  2d,  3d  and  4th.  John  Dickinson  speaks 
against  it.  The  Declaration  will  not  add  a  single  soldier  to  the  patriot 
cause.  John  Adams  rises,  and  with  all  eyes  fixed  upon  the  massive 
forehead  and  the  thoughtful  countenance,  confesses  that  as  he  speaks 
he  "  feels  himself  oppressed  by  the  weight  of  the  subject."  The  debate 
is  between  Adams  and  Dickinson,  and  the  result  is  foreshadowed  when 
the  colleague  of  the  latter,  James  Wilson,  rises  and  says  he  will  vote 
for  the  Declaration  of  IndcDeiidence. 


THE  DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE. 


The  remainder  of  the  story  is  quickly  told.  The  Declaration 
comes  to  a  vote,  is  adopted  and  forthwith  the  old  janitor  proceeds  to 
the  belfry  tower,  with  tremulous,  eager  hands  seizes  the  supple  rope 
which  seems  in  this  supreme  moment  to  be  endowed  with  bounding 
life  and  at  once  peal  forth  the  tones  of  the  State  House  bell  in 
obedience  to  the  word  to  "proclaim  liberty  throughout  all  the 
land,"  while,  mingled  with  the  air-laden  screams  of  the  joyous  metal, 
rise  the  shouts  and  cheers  of  the  patriot  thousands,  struggling  there 
in  one  black,  dense  mass  with  hats  and  handkerchiefs  poised  in  the 
air  and.  with  the  genius  of  freedom  encircling  their  heads,  making 
their  wild  gesticulations  and  joyous  play  of  countenance  a  sight  at 
once  beautiful  and  sublime  in  the  inspiring  hour,  never  to  be  forgotten 
nor  uncommemorated  so  long  as  the  American  name  is  known  in 
human  annals  and  the  word  Liberty  has  meaning  in  this  earthly 
destiny  among  the  races  of  men. 


III! 


U1TI7EESIT7 


CHAPTER   IX. 

LOWERING  OF  WAR  CLOUDS  ALL  OVER  THE  COLONIES— THE  BRITISH  UNDER  limvi; 
OCCUPY  PHILADELPHIA — DEPARTURE  OF  THE  CONGRESS  FOR  LANCASTER — WASHING- 
TON AND  VALLEY  FORGE— PHILADELPHIA'S  SKY  AGAIN  BRIGHTENS— ITS  GREAT 
INDUSTRIAL  GROWTH  FORESHADOWED. 

RADICAL  and  revolutionary  act,  Philadelphia!  Of  all  bold 
things  just  how  occurring  on  old  Earth's  crust,  or  having 
occurred  and  left  some  recollection  thereof  in  the  minds  of 
men  this  Declaration  is  about  the  boldest,  and  will  be  attended  by  the 
most  momentous  and  far-reaching  effects.  Among  American  cities  in 
this  eventful  year  of  seventeen  hundred  and  seventy-six  this  city  of 
Perm  stands  pre-eminent,  having  out-Americaned  them  all  and  brought 
on  a  pretty  crisis,  thanks  to  her  exceptional  foresight  two  years  ago 
when  she  suggested  this  idea  of  a  Congress  of  the  Colonies  and  having 
seen  it  carried  out  thereafter  took  the  Congress  under  her  wings  and 
sternly  suffered  no  one  to  speak  disrespectfully  of  the  distinguished 
body,  but  compelled  all  within  the  range  of  her  influence  to  conform 
with  its  decrees  and  recommendations. 

Here,  then,  is  the  Congress,  full-grown,  and  these  restless,  dissatis- 
fied and  revolutionary  Philadelphians  may  contemplate  its  latest  work, 
the  logical  fruit  of  their  work.  They  wanted  independence  and  now 
they  have  it,  by  formal,  heroic,  official  proclamation  o£  that  able  assem- 
blage which  they  gathered  together  from  all  the  colonies,  beneath  their 
own  roof-tree,  and  which  seems  to  like  the  location  so  well  it  has  got 
into  the  habit  of  occupying  their  State  House  regularly  every  year. 
Xot  only  do  they  have  independence  but  they  have  a  terrific  war  on 
their  hands  and  on  those  of  their  fellow-colonists,  their  antagonist 
being  a  big  fighting  nation  which  has  won  a  proud  record  in  many 
contests  both  on  land  and  sea  and  which  displays  a  formidable  band 
about  its  girth  labelled  "Conqueror."  The  Congress  has  been  egged 
on  to  do  this  astounding  thing  and  now  Philadelphia,  which  is  in 
reality  at  the  bottom  of  it  all,  must  stand  by  it  and  see  that  it  is  pro- 
tected. She  is  the  staunch  pillar  against  which  the  Congress  must 
lean,  and  if  she  topples  all  goes  over,  in  which  event  it  would  l>e 
better  if  the  Congress  had  never  existed. 

The  Congress  finds,  however,  it  is  resting  on  a  substantial  support, 
Philadelphia,  having  shouted  itself  hoarse  over  the  Declaration  and 

(157) 


158  THE  STORY  OF  AN  AMERICAN  CITY. 


made  its  joy  heard  to  the  farthest  corners  of  the  earth,  even  King 
George's  ears  not  being  spared,  comes  back  to  urgent  business  with  a 
promptness  and  coolness  that  must  astonish  the  Congress  itself.  Only 
four  days  after  the  signing  and  promulgating  of  the  Declaration 
Philadelphia  and  Pennsylvania  are  holding  an  election  in  the  State 
House  for  the  purpose  of  choosing  delegates  to  a  convention  to  formu- 
late a  State  Constitution. 

A  State  Constitution  !  Must  the  restless  patriots  of  the  province 
of  Perm  display  such  unseemly  haste  in  donning  the  garb  of  Statehood 
— independent  Statehood — that  the  objectionable  costume  shall  clothe 
their  defiant  figures  before  the  old  colonial  garments  are  decently  put 
out  of  sight  ?  Well  might  the  King  and  the  Parliament  feel  an  addi- 
tional thrill  of  anger  at  the  spectacle  of  this  impetuous  rush  to  clear 
away  all  the  vestiges  of  royal  authority.  Bad  as  it  is,  however,  the  worst 
has  not  yet  developed  ;  for,  when  the  convention  meets  a  few  days 
later  and  organizes  by  electing  that  formidable  American,  Benjamin 
Franklin,  President,  it  forthwith  assumes  executive  and  legislative 
power  in  Pennsylvania,  supplanting  both  Governor  and  Provincial 
Assembly,  for  Franklin  is  nothing  if  not  radical  and  courageous.  He 
has  taken  into  his  own  hands  it  appears,  all  law  and  authority,  swung 
Pennsylvania  into  accord  with  the  Congress  and,  like  a  stout  son  of 
Vulcan,  is  mauling  and  welding  the  two  bodies  into  unity  and  har- 
mony regardless  of  their  previous  condition  severally  and  of  the  foreign 
ingredients  which  made  up  their  composition.  This  muscular  business 
of  hammering  out  a  State  does  not  please  the  Tories  nor  yet  the  Moder- 
ates nor  the  Quakers,  who  protest  loudly,  but  Franklin,  the  chief  artisan 
in  the  construction  of  the  new  governmental  fabric,  does  not  mind  them, 
but  goes  on  with  his  work  and  the  Congress  applauds  him. 

It  is  one  of  the  noticeable  things  in  this  trying  time  that  the 
patriots  are  philosophic  and  uiiterrified.  If  they  have  to  fight  King 
George's  armies  anyhow  for  their  acts  they  might  as  well  stand  in  the 
ranks  of  battle  as  huge  violators  of  royal  authority  as  face  the  warlike 
array  in  the  character  of  small  recalcitrants,  especially  since  the  effect 
will  be  the  same  and  musket-balls  will  not  be  influenced  one  way  or 
other  by  the  question  of  the  degree  of  the  offences  committed. 

Therefore,  Franklin  and  his  co-workers  take  all  the  desperate 
chances  the  situation  offers  and  frame  a  Constitution  which  is  en- 
forced despite  the  fact  that  the  people  reject  it.  The  war  clouds  are 
lowering  rapidly ;  George  Washington  vacates  his  seat  in  Congress  as 
member  from  Virginia  to  accept  the  post  of  Commander-iii-Chief  of 
the  American  Army.  Through  the  stormy  Revolutionary  period  the 


UIX7EESIT7 


LOWERING   OF   THE   WAR   CLOUDS.  161 


services  of  the  unrivalled  Franklin  in  the  cause  of  his  State  and  of 
his  country  shine  resplendent,  whether  on  his  native  soil  or  whether 
representing  the  interests  of  the  nation  at  the  Court  of  the  French 
Republic. 

From  the  joyous  days  immediately  following  the  date  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  the  observer  of  the  happenings  and 
events  in  this  notable  year  of  seventeen  hundred  and  seventy-six  will 
gradually  find  his  thoughts  moving  in  a  more  sober,  if  not  more 
sombre,  channel  as  the  shadow  of  approaching  ills  becomes  more 
clearly  marked  and  defined.  Britain's  fighters  have  their  eyes  on  the 
rebellious  city,  the  scene  of  the  Revolutionary  Congress  and  of  all 
revolutionary  edicts,  including  the  most  noted  one,  penned  by  Jefferson. 
As  the  year  passes  and  the  new  one  approaches  there  are  many  evidences 
of  a  desire  on  the  part  of  the  British  commander  to  invade  and  occupy 
the  most  famous  of  American  towns,  and  Washington  himself  antici- 
pates the  event.  Why  should  Britain's  General  not  wish  to  move 
against  Philadolphia  ?  It  has  been  the  seat  of  all  the  trouble 
which  has  harassed  the  King  and  the  Parliament,  the  most  indepen- 
dent, most  aggressive  and,  the  King  and  his  ministers  may  well  say, 
the  most  disloyal. 

The  black  day  of  reckoning  comes  only  too  sure ;  wherewith  on 
the  sixth  day  of  September,  year  seventeen  hundred  and  seventy- 
seven,  General  Howe,  with  his  cavaliers  and  troopers  rides  into  the 
town  at  the  head  of  a  big  army,  after  having  had  a  vigorous  bout 
with  Washington  and  his  fighters  on  the  banks  of  the  Brandywine. 
Patriotic  Philadelphia  receives  the  enemy  in  silence  and  with  much 
secret  heart-burning ;  unpatriotic  Philadelphia,  the  Tories,  turn  out 
with  music  and  illumination  and  many  transports  of  joy.  The  Con- 
gress has  adjourned  to  Lancaster ;  the  Liberty  Bell,  sacred  emblem  of 
independence,  and  the  chimes  of  Christ  Church,  which  have  also  been 
guilty  of  "  proclaiming  liberty" — on  that  day  when  the  Declaration 
was  signed, — have  likewise  departed  the  town  on  a  brief  vacation 
trip,  to  be  spent  under  the  turf  of  a  certain  picturesque  churchyard 
in  Allentown,  their  destination,  however,  being  unknown  to  General 
Howe.  Previous  to  and  attending  the  departure  of  noted  men,  Con- 
gressmen and  others,  gloom  reigns  unchecked  and  the  .hope  of  the 
patriot  is  at  a  low  ebb.  Even  the  great  John  Adams  is  moved  to 
lament  for  lack  of  "  one  great  soul  who  could  extricate  the  best  cause 
from  that  ruin  which  seems  to  await  it ;"  and  despairful  Parson 
Muhleriberg  cries,  "  Now  Pennsylvania  bend  thy  neck  and  prepare  to 
meet  thy  God  !  " 


162  THE  STORY  OF  AN  AMERICAN  CITY. 

Not  yet,  friend  Muhlenberg  !  Britain's  war-dog,  indolent,  well-fed, 
pampered,  luxurious  in  his  habits,  fond  of  gaming,  a  devotee  of  pleasure 
in  fact,  spends  the  Autumn,  Winter  and  Spring  comfortably  enough  in 
the  rebellious  city,  toasted  and  cajoled  by  the  Tory  residents  who  are  in 
a  high  state  of  joy.  Washington  with  his  army  in  the  meantime  is  at 
Valley  Forge  and  vicinity  ;  not  so  well  quartered  and  provided  for  as  his 
British  antagonist,  since  the  bleeding,  unshod  feet  and  ragged  garb  of 
his  soldiers  are  an  actual  sight  there  and  not  a  picture  of  fancy.  The 
winter  wears  away,  the  luxurious  Howe  doing  nothing  brilliant ;  occu- 
pying his  time  gaming  and  banqueting  and  making  one  or  two  feints  at 
attacking  the  patriot  General,  none  of  which  amounts  to  anything — save 
perhaps  the  battle  of  Germantown — until  the  arrival  of  May,  when  an 
order  comes  relieving  him  of  the  command  and  placing  Sir  Henry 
Clinton  in  charge.  Before,  another  month  has  passed  Britain  has 
marched  out  of  Philadelphia  across  the  Jersey  sands,  closely  pursued 
by  the  patriot  General  and  his  troops. 

It  was  night  of  the  eighteenth  day  of  June,  year  seventeen  hun- 
dred and  seventy-eight,  when  the  last  of  the  "  King's  hated  troops  " 
made  their  way  across  the  Delaware,  and,  landing  at  barren  Gloucester 
Point  on  the  New  Jersey  shore,  looked  back  on  the  long  dark  front  of 
the  patriot  city,  silent,  ominous,  portentious  in  the  waning  vision  and 
shrouded  in  the  mystery  of  an  unrevealed  destiny,  world-filling  in  its 
historic  greatness  and  civic  grandeur.  A  proud  night  and  a  glad  one 
for  the  great  American  town,  so  still  there  in  this  eventful  hour  under 
the  clear  June  starlight,  reflected  in  the  myriad  undulations  on  the 
broad,  restless,  ever-heaving  Delaware  stream  !  Now  friends  of  Britain, 
including  the  whole  family  of  Torydom  in  Philadelphia,  whose  coun- 
tenances are  so  forlorn  on  this  night  when  patriots  devoutly  rejoice, 
well  may  you  borrow  and  paraphrase  that  exclamation  wrung  from 
much  agony  of  soul  of  good  Parson  Muhlenberg  nine  months  ago,  for 
nothing  will  better  fit  your  own  case ;  you,  who  have  been,  during 
these  long  months  of  "  British  protection,"  at  once  informer  and 
castigator,  inquisitor  and  jailor,  under  whose  revengeful  and  cruel 
hands  so  many  of  your  patriot  fellow-citizens  have  suffered. 

With  Britain's  rear-guard  climbing  the  banks  on  the  opposite 
shore, — even  before  they  have  all  departed  from  Philadelphia!!  soil, — 
the  patriot  troops  press  into  the  town.  Onward,  impetuous  and  eager 
the  hurrying  throngs  in  uniform  of  the  "  Continentals,"  and — alas ! 
many  almost  in  rags,  unshod  and  lean,  but  with  patriot  hearts  beating 
beneath  the  worn  faded  garb,  swarm  on  the  trail  of  the  retreating  foe 
so  numerously  they  seem  to  rise  from  the  earth.  As  the  last  of 


I7ERSIT7 


PHILADELPHIA'S  SKY  AGAIN  BRIGHTENS.  165 

Britain's  host  tumbles  into  its  boats  the  patriot  cavalry,  under  the 
valiant  Captain  Allen  McLane,  presses  on  its  rear  so  closely  and  har- 
rasses  it  so  persistently  that  confusion  ensues,  and  several  of  the  King's 
officers  and  men  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  patriot  troops  much  to  the 
delight  of  loyal  Philadelphia  and  the  gallant  Captain  McLane.  Nor 
does  the  pursuit  fail  here.  Washington  and  his  army  are  soon  on. 
Jersey  soil  in  hot  chase  after  the  proud  hosts  of  Sir  Henry  Clinton, 
undismayed  and  more  determined  than  ever  to  press  this  war, 
forced  upon  the  American  colonies,  to  a  conclusion  on  the  basis  of 
the  rights  set  forth  in  the  great  Declaration. 

The  enemy  is  gone  and  Philadelphia  again  breathes  free.  How 
quickly  the  town  regains  its  wonted  air  of  independence  and  self- 
reliance  !  As  if  conscious  that  the  eyes  of  the  world  are  upon  her  as 
the  champion  of  right  and  justice,  her  spirit,  unbroken  and  un- 
daunted, rises  to  the  supreme  height  demanded  by  the  occasion,  and 
thenceforth  as  formerly,  the  patriot  cause  finds  no  lagging,  no  lack  of 
vigorous  encouragement,  no  absence  of  substantial  aid  on  the  part  of  • 
the  freedom-loving  Pennsylvania!!  city.  In  the  space  of  one  week  from 
the  time  of  the  departure  of  the  British,  the  Congress  is  again  meeting 
in  the  State  House,  much  to  the  depression  and  loneliness  of  Lancaster, 
which  had  seemed  quite  another  place  during  the  stir  and  bustle 
attending  the  assembling  there  of  such  a  distinguished  body  of  men. 
The  Assembly  alone  remains  at  the  rural  town  with  its  background  of 
blue-crowned  hills  and  its  far-reaching  prospect  of  undulating  plains, 
and  green  valleys,  languorous  and  Eden-like  amidst  the  charm  of  spark- 
ling streams,  hastening  in  their  onward  flow  to  the  stately  Susquehanna, 
or  leaping  southeastward  to  mingle  their  waters  with  that  storied  creek 
which  flows  commemorative  of  the  early  settlers  from  Sweden  and 
Norway,  in  the  peaceful  days  before  the  advent  of  Perm  and  his  Penn- 
sylvania,— the  Christiana. 

Other  things  and  establishments  besides  the  Congress  come  back 
to  Philadelphia  now  that  the  sky  has  cleared  and  the  city  is  itself  again. 
Dunlap  and  his  Pennsylvanian  Packet  return  and  at  once  business  is 
resumed  at  the  old  place,  and  American  doctrine  is  poured  forth  tri- 
weekly by  the  indefatiguable  editor  and  publisher  who  is  also  the 
recipient  and  custodian  of  all  things  advertised  as  "lost  and  found," 
and  a  sort  of  bureau  of  general  information  and  employment  office 
combined.  Quite  different  is  the  situation  of  Henry  Miller,  the 
( u-nnan  printer,  whose  office,  the  finest  in  America,  was  seized  and 
looted,  the  spoils  going  to  James  Robertson,  the  Tory  printer  of  the 
Pennsylvania  Gazette,  who  carried  off  the  property  in  the  Kind's 


THE  STORY  OF  AN  AMERICAN  CITY. 


wagons,  alleging  that  General  Howe  had  given  it  to  him  as  compensa- 
tion for  the  loss  of  his  own  printing  property  at  Albany,  which  had 
been  taken  by  the  patriots  ;  all  of  which  make  it  evident  that  the 
fraternal  feeling  and  "  honor  among  the  craft  "  had  not  reached  that 
complete  state  of  development  which  has  later  resulted  in  a  sense  of 
recognition  of  the  rights  of  property. 

Torydom  in  Philadelphia  in  now  travelling  a  thorny  road  ;  the 
Congress  and  the  Supreme  Executive  Council  having  taken  up  its  case 
with  a  determination  to  make  some  wholesome  examples  that  the 
patriotic  may  find  encouragement  and  the  unpatriotic  be  taught  a 
lesson  not  soon  to  be  forgotten.  Enemies  within  as  well  as  without 
the  American  household  must  be  looked  after.  Accordingly,  in  this 
summer  of  seventeen  hundred  and  seventy-eight,  a  military  court- 
martial  and  Chief  Justice  Thomas  McKean  in  the  Court  of  Oyer  and 
Terminer  are  both  busy  with  cases,  the  former  dealing  with  British 
spies  and  deserters  from  the  American  army  while  the  latter  is  engaged 
with  numerous  cases  involving  the  charge  of  high  treason.  Some  hun- 
dreds, including  persons  of  position  as  well  as  thrifty  artisans  and 
tradesmen,  have  been  attainted  by  the  Congress  as  traitors,  and 
proclamations  are  issued  commanding  them  to  come  forward  and 
stand  trial.  A  number  of  the  accused  do  not  appear  and  cannot  be 
found  for  the  excellent  reason  that  they  have  fled  for  England  on  the 
British  fleet,  having  been  taken  as  refugees,  leaving  land  and  property 
behind  to  be  confiscated  and  applied  to  the  use  of  the  State.  Those 
who  are  within  reach  are  brought  to  trial  ;  some  acquitted,  others 
found  guilty  and  imprisoned,  banished  or  heavily  fined,  while  several 
&re  hanged  —  the  execution  of  Abraham  Carlisle,  a  carpenter,  who  had 
kept  one  of  the.  city  gates  for  the  British,  and  John  Roberts,  a  miller, 
who  had  enlisted  in  the  army  of  the  enemy,  being  the  most  notable 
of  the  several  cases  of  capital  punishment  inflicted  by  the  patriots 
and  productive  of  the  greatest  amount  of  dismay  among  the  unpatri- 
otic survivors,  who  feared  it  was  only  the  beginning  of  a  day  of 
reckoning  which  might  not  soon  have  an  ending.  The  court-martial, 
likewise,  is  doing  its  work  in  a  business-like  way,  not  calculated  to 
revive  the  spirits  or  bring  cheerfulness  to  the  faces  of  Tories  or  the 
unpatriotic  among  the  Quakers.  George  Spangler,  convicted  on  the 
charge  of  being  a  British  spy,  is  hanged  on  the  Philadelphia  com- 
mons. Lieutenant  Lyons  and  Lieutenant  Ford,  formerly  in  the  ser- 
vice of  the  Committee  of  Safety's  improvised  American  Navy  on  the 
Delaware,  but  charged  with  deserting  to  the  British  during  the  attack 
-on  Fort  Mifflin,  and  found  guilty,  are  both  shot  on  board  one  of  the 


!i 


•f. 


TJIIVSRSITY 


ITS   GREAT   INDUSTRIAL   GROWTH    FORESHADOWED.  1(39 


guard-boats  in  the  river  off  Gloucester.     Patrick  McMullen,  a  deserter, 
having  been  convicted  by  the  court-martial,  meets  a  like  fate. 

In  the  meanwhile,  the  Congress  having  attainted  a  number  of 
citizens  as  traitors  and  ordered  them  into  exile  on  the  eve  of  the 
entrance  of  the  British  into  the  city,  now  that  the  enemy  has  departed 
and  it  finds  itself  back  in  its  old  quarters  in  the  State  House,  grows 
more  lenient  and  issues  a  proclamation  allowing  the  exiles  to  return. 
Among  those  who  are  thus  permitted  to  come  back  to  the  city  of  inde- 
pendence are  John  Penn  and  Benjamin  Chew — late  Chief  Justice  of 
the  province — who  have  been  detained  by  Congressional  order  at  Hun- 
terdon,  New  Jersey.  Likewise  there  appear  a  number  of  Tories  and 
Quakers  who  had  been  banished  to  Staunton,  and  some  of  whom  have 
aged  considerably  during  their  enforced  sojourn  among  the  Virginian 
mountains. 

Patriotic  Philadelphia  is  now  established  more  firmly  than  ever  on 
her  bed-rock  principle  of  liberty  and  independence.  She  has  shown 
her  capacity  for  suffering  in  the  patriot  cause  and  the  obstinate  Briton, 
even  as  he  shook  the  dust  of  her  streets  from  his  shoes  and  betook 
himself  eastward  across  the  Jersey  low  lands,  is  forced  to  confess  himself 
vanquished.  There  is  no  persuading  such  a  stiff-necked  people,  and 
the  King  might  as  well  give  them  up  as  a  band  of  unruly  traitors. 
Philadelphia,  again  the  seat  of  government,  shines  forth  to  the  world 
as  the  unyielding  American  city,  and  patriots  and  lovers  of  liberty 
everywhere  conjure  with  her  magical  name.  With  the  storm-centre  of 
war  removed  from  her  locality  her  commerce,  her  industries  and  her 
richness  of  inventive  faculty,  bound  once  more  into  active,  vigorous 
life.  Manufacture  in  many  and  various  branches  is  stimulated  and 
developed  ;  genuis  and  thrift  assert  themselves  and  the  Quaker  city,  in 
the  rapid  expansion  of  business  interests,  the  increase  in  the  number 
of  factories  and  mills,  attracts  attention  as  the  centre  of  productive 
industry  in  America.  Within  her  boundaries  in  these  closing  years  of 
the  eighteenth  century,  even  while  war  is  raging  throughout  the 
colonies,  she  manufactures  enough  cotton  goods,  paper,  glass,  leather, 
flour  and  other  articles  usually  included  in  the  category  of  necessaries 
of  life  to  supply  the  entire  population  of  America  ;  and  yet  her  "age 
of  invention  "  has  scarcely  yet  had  its  unobtrusive  beginning. 


TJHIVEISITT 


CHAPTER   X. 

THE  ERA  OF  WAR  SUCCEEDED  BY  THE  ERA  OF  INDUSTRIAL  GROWTH  AND  INVENTION 
IN  PHILADELPHIA— THE  OLD  AND  THE  MODERN  CITY  PRESENTED  IN  CONTRAST- 
ELECTRICITY  AND  STEAM— EARLY  EXPERIMENTS  OF  OLIVER  EVANS  WITH  THE 
PREDECESSOR  OF  THE  LOCOMOTIVE — THE  AGE  OF  STEAM. 

IN  all  this  talk  about  Philadelphia  in  the  throes  of  revolution  and  of 
an  era  formative,  as  well  as  a  period  of  transition  and  experiment, 
the  mind  should  keep  in  view  the  undoubted  fact  that  the  mortal 
of  the  closing  years  of  the  eighteenth  century,  the  time  of  soul-harrow- 
ing trials  and  ordeals,  who  should    by  any  supernatural  agency  be 
transported  back  to  the  earth  and  landed  in  his  old  abiding-place  in 
the  city  of  Penn  in  this  four  hundredth  Columbian  year — and  a  half- 
year   over — would,   unless   having    received    previous   warning,  take 
fright  and  find  himself  in  "  a  state  of  nerves  "  which  only  the  most 
abundant  reassurance  and  proof  of  good  faith  on  the  part  of  his  host 
or  guide,  could  overcome.     If,  for  example,  he  should  appear  about  the 
noonday  hour  .in  the  centre  of   Philadelphia  with   its    far-reaching 
boundaries  of  more  than  one  hundred  and  twenty-nine  square  miles 
and  its  streets  and  thoroughfares  teeming  with -the  life  and  activity  of 
a  population  exceeding  twelve  hundred  thousand  souls,  and  find  as  the 
initiatory  performance  greeting  his  advent,  the  simultaneous  outburst 
of  all  the  shrill  and  resonant  screamers  which  attest  the  power  and 
utility  of  steam,  with  their  ten  thousand  variations,  it   is  hardly  a 
question  admitting  of  argument  that  he  would  at  least  be  startled  and 
probably  experience  a  desire  to  return  whence  he  came.     How  like 
and  how  unlike  the  old  Philadelphia  !     The  people  from  the  beginning 
were  a  charitable  set  ;  could  hear  of  no  calamity  befalling  their  fellow- 
men  in  other  parts  of  the  world  without  being  moved  to  hold  meetings, 
appoint  committees,  raise  money  and  supplies  and  forward  the  proceeds 
of  the  people's  bounty  to  the  victims  of  distress.     Thus,  when  Ports- 
mouth, in  the. State  of  New  Hampshire,  on  a  cold  January  night,  year 
eighteen  hundred  and  three,  was  laid  in  ashes  by  fire,  the  city  of  Penn 
no  sooner  heard  the  news  than  her  citizens  assembled  in  public  meet- 
ing, subscriptions  were  started  and  a  fund  of   almost  ten  thousand 
dollars  in   cash,  besides  food  and    clothing,   were  dispatched  to  the 
unhappy  people  within  forty-eight  hours.     Likewise  did  she  respond 
with  equal  promptness  and  generosity  one  year  later  when  the  same 

(173) 


174  THE    STORY   OF   AN   AMERICAN   CITY. 


destructive  element  laid  waste  a  portion  of  Norfolk,  Virginia,  a  great 
throng  of  people  assembling  in  the  State  House — how  the  masses  of 
the  City  of  Independence  do  instinctively  flock  to  that  building  in 
times  of  calamity  or  of  great  public  exigencies  calling  for  popular 
action  since  those  early  days  of  the  Revolution  ! — where  some  thou- 
sands of  dollars  were  subscribed  and  forwarded  to  the  sufferers  in  the 
Virginian  town. 

In  benevolence  and  charity  and  zeal  for  learning,  the  character  of 
the  people  of  the  city  of  Penn,  the  city  of  the  third  and  greatest  of  the 
English  colonies,  is  the  same  in  this  day  as  in  the  times  of  old,  condi- 
tions affecting  the  industrial   and  commercial  relations  of  men  and 
nations  alone  having  changed.     The  Philadelphia  of  yore  was  a  quiet 
city.       No  scream  from  the  throttle  of  the  railway  racer  disturbed  the 
peace  of  the  citizen  living  so  comfortably  on  Second  street,  or  Front 
^stret  " over  against  the  river,"  for  there  were  no  railroads  and  steam 
/was  known  only  in  connection  with  the  brewing  of  the  afterward  inter- 
dicted tea  or  coffee  and  with  the  simple  household  uses  of  man.     No 
'  columns  of  smoke  rose  huge  and  black  against  the  clear  light  of  the 
sky,  for  the  method  of  using  anthracite  coal  as  fuel  for  mills  and 
factories  was  unknown.     The  ears  of  the  peace-loving  Quakers  were 
not   disturbed   by  the  shrieking  of  whistles  as  they  announced  the 
arrival  of  the  morning  or  of  the  noonday  or  the  evening  hour.     The 
,  craft  that  floated  on  the  broad  Delaware,  silent  witness  of  the  growth 
\  of  Philadelphia  from  its  beginning,  were  devoid  of  the  power  to  shriek 
the  warning  note  when  keel  approached  keel  and  threatened  disaster 
created  consternation  on  deck. 

Changed  conditions  !  Vast  stride  of  human  knowledge  !  During 
all  these  old  days,  with  Philadelphia  looking  outward, — seaward, — 
with  her  mind  on  external  affairs  as  the  source  of  profit  and  prosperity, 
there  lay  close  within  her  reach,  in  her  own  Pennsylvania,  what  was 
more  than  all  the  wealth  of  the  Indias.  All  these  days  the  coal  and 
iron  lay  in  the  hills  awaiting  the  hour  when  industry  should  find 
them  and  release  them  from  the  confinement  of  Earth's  laboratory,  to 
enable  them  to  contribute  their  stupendous  part  to  the  enrichment  and 
advancement  of  the  interests  of  mankind.  All  these  days  the  forests 
were  burned,  the  furnaces  yawned,  invention  flourished  and  mankind 
was  considered  vastly  wise.  Even  if  the  coal  had  been  unearthed  and 
its  usefulness  demonstrated  it  would  have  profited  the  manufacturer 
and  the  mill  operator  little  unless  they  could  find  a  means  of  transport- 
ing it  to  their  place  of  need.  It  was  not  until  the  railroad  took  its 
place  as  the  potential  agent  of  human  and  industrial  development  that 


i 


UII7EHSITT 


ELECTRICITY   AND    STEAM.  177 


the  earth  began  to  yield  its  treasure  and  invention  to  claim  it,  drag- 
ging it  forth  to  the  light  of  day  and  carrying  it  across  mountains  and 
great  rivers,  over  hills  and  valleys,  a  ceaseless,  unending  stream  of 
black  mineral,  ever  greeting  the  eye  in  the  rounding  prospect,  ever 
tending  onward  in  the  wake  of  the  puffing,  steaming,  smoke-begrimed 
steed  of  iron,  toward  the  centres  of  population,  of  industry  and  of 
commerce. 

What  share  this  city  of  American  independence  has  had  in  the 
great  awakening  written  and  printed  records  show.  Not  alone  in 
patriotism  but  in  science,  in  invention  and  in  the  promotion  of  the 
polite  and  useful  arts  has  she  earned  high  distinction  and  contributed 
to  the  advancement  of  civilization.  Did  not  the  versatile  Franklin, 
founder  of  ths  American  Philosophical  Society  away  back  in  the  year 
seventeen  hundred  and  twenty-seven,  demonstrate  the  fact  that  elec- 
tricity may  be  attracted  in  the  realm  of  space  and  conducted  to  earth 
by  means  of  an  instrument  no  more  complicated  than  a  thread  of 
wire  ? 

And  what  has  not  been  accomplished  since  by  that  same  electricity 
and  its  accompanying  "  thread  of  wire  !  "  Yet  not  alone  was  the  active 
brain  of  Franklin  delving  into  the  mysteries  of  nature,  of  chemistry 
and  of  the  science  of  mechanics.  With  such  a  busy,  thrifty,  industrious, 
complex  population  of  a  city  where  it  was  wont  to  be  the  boast,  even 
before  the  days  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  that  "half  the 
property  owners  in  Philadelphia  wear  leather  aprons  " — thus  preparing 
the  way  for  the  later  equivalent  expression — "  city  of  homes."  Can  it 
be  supposed  that  new  and  useful  things  shall  not  be  discovered  and 
applied ;  that  the  city  of  Penii  shall  give  no  account  of  herself  to  the 
world  ? 

Especially  since  there  is  a  queer  person  with  a  queer  theory  even 
now  causing  some  stir  in  the  city  ; — a  respectable  but  somewhat  vision- 
ary man  named  Oliver  Evans.  There  is  nothing  the  matter  with  him  ; 
he  means  well,  but  he  has  a  hobby,  being  possessed  of  an  idea  that  lie 
ran  improve,  even  revolutionize,  the  method  of  transportation  of 
persons  and  property  much  to  the  amusement  of  the  turnpike  com- 
panies and  the  operators  of  lines  of  stages.  This  odd  man  who  pro- 
fesses to  believe  that  stupendous  things  may  be  done  through  the 
agency  of  the  vapory  element  produced  by  boiling  water,  is  hoton-  the 
public  a  good  deal  in  these  early  years  of  the  century  :  his  friends 
politely  listen  to  him  with  affected  interest  as  lie  dilates  upon  the 
potency  of  steam  and  its  power  to  serve  man,  and  they  try  at  least  to 
not  discourage  him.  The  newspapers  tolerate  his  theory  and 


178  THE  STORY  OF  AN  AMERICAN  CITY. 


some  of  his  latest  contrivances  in  the  same  spirit  in  which  they  would 
exploit  a  coming  balloon  ascension. 

Meanwhile  the  persistence  in  which  inventor  Evans  presses  his 
idea  on  the  public  is  beginning  to  make  people  talk  a  good  deal ;  if 
there  is  anything  of  merit  in  his  theory,  which  is  doubtful,  it  will  inter- 
fere somewhat  with  the  traffic  of  the  stage  lines.  Yet  the  men  of  the 
stage  coaches  laugh  and  nudge  each  other  as  the  inventor  with  his 
steam-hobby  comes  in  sight ;  this  steam  theory  may  be  all  right  in 
its  proper  place,  which  seems  to  be  in  its  application  to  boats  where 
the  genius  of  Fulton  and  Fitch  has  demonstrated  its  practicability,  but 
what  is  this  talk  of  the  hobby-ridden  Evans  about  a  land  carriage  to 
be  drawn  by  steam  ?  He  actually  makes  a  proposition  in  this  year 
\  tighteeii  hundred  and  four  to  the  leading  turnpike  company — Phila- 
klelphia  and  Columbia — to  build  an  engine  and  a  carriage  for  freight 
under  certain  conditions  set  forth,  the  most  salient  of  which  appears  to 
be  a  requirement  that  twenty-five  hundred  dollars  shall  be  advanced, 
(fifteen  hundred  to  be  applied  to  the  building  of  the  aforesaid  engine, 
|five  hundred  to  the  production  of  the  carriage,  while  the  remaining 
five  hundred  shall  be  held  in  reserve  for  "  unforeseen  expenses."  In 
return  for  the  capital  advanced  the  inventor  will  agree  that  the  car- 
riage aforementioned  shall  be  capable  of  carrying  one  hundred  barrels 
of  flour  at  a  speed  of  two  miles  an  hour,  thus  performing  in  two  days 
/the  journey,  with  the  stated  amount  of  freight,  from  Philadelphia  to 
Columbia,  a  work  which  requires,  under  existing  conditions,  three 
days,  twenty-five  horses,  five  wagons,  and  an  expenditure  of  three 
thousand  three  hundred  and  four  dollars,  actual  rates. 

The  Turnpike  Company  declines  to  advance  the  money,  doubtless 
being  conscious  of  the  fact  that  it  is  doing  well  enough  with  its 
wagons  and  its  horses  and  its  five  days'  time.  But  thereafter  this 
man  Evans  is  a  person  to  be  avoided.  He  is  in  search  of  capital  for 
his  visionary  scheme  and  his  friends  and  acquaintances,  when  they  see 
him  approaching,  are  overtaken  by  the  sudden  recollection  of  a  matter 
of  business  across  the  street  or  around  the  corner  which  renders  them 
unable  to  meet  the  man  with  the  steam-hobby  and  exchange  the 
greetings  of  the  day.  Has  he  not  been  advocating  his  peculiar  idea 
for  years,  literally  since  the  year  seventeen  hundred  and  seventy- three, 
at  least  in  its  application  to  the  use  of  boats,  and  since  seventeen  and 
seventy-eight  in  the  matter  of  its  applicability  to  carriages  on  land  ! 
If  the  thing  possessed  any  merit  should  it  not  have  been  demonstrated 
long  before  this  year  of  grace  eighteen  hundred  and  four  !  Twenty- 
six  years  with  a  hobby  and  not  yet  able  to  show  its  practicability  ! 


BJUVEBSITT 


EARLY   EXPERIMENTS   OF   OLIVER   EVANS.  1  S  [ 

Yet,  not  so  certain  !  The  indomitable  inventor,  in  this  year  of 
propositions  to  turnpike  companies  and  pointed  rejections,  evidently 
knows  his  ground.  So  far  from  being  dismayed  by  the  Philadelphia 
and  Columbia  monopoly,  he  publicly  offers  to  wager  the  sum  of  three 
thousand  dollars  that  he  can  make  a  carriage  travel  by  steam  faster 
than  any  horse  !  Philadelphia  and  its  turnpike  companies  are  amazed 
at  the  confidence  and  boldness  of  the  inventor,  who  begins  to  assume 
an  aspect  in  their  eyes  somewhat  different  from  the  man  of  their 
original  idea,  However,  nobody,  not  even  the  stage  coach  company, 
which  might  be  supposed  to  be  the  body  most  interested  in  showing 
to  the  public  the  folly  of  the  queer  idea,  comes  forth  to  meet  the 
challenge,  whereat  the  irrepressible  champion  of  the  new  means  of 
transportation  is  entitled  to  triumphantly  refer  all  doubting  investi- 
gators to  his  latest  unanswered  argument. 

Well  is  it  for  the  public,  and  the  stage  coach  company,  that  they 
do  not  put  the  inventor  to  the  test.  He  is  no  empty  traggart,  this  man 
Evans  ;  a  person  of  active  brain  and  strong  conviction,  this  idea  which 
he  cherishes  and  which  men  call  queer,  may  be  one  of  the  silent  har- 
bingers from  that  unknown  realm — world  of  unfathomed  mystery  and 
of  untold  treasure,  whose  gateway,  to  the  consciousness  of  this  prosaic, 
everyday  world  in  which  mortals  live  and  breathe  and  struggle,  is 
inscribed  "Invention" — of  great  things  to  be  accomplished  on  earth 
among  the  races  of  civilized  men.  Have  people  not  learned  that  they 
are  not  all-knowing,  that  much  yet  remains  unrevealed  and  that  pre- 
conceived opinions  and  prejudice  and  self-interested  bias  of  mind  are 
not  true  knowledge?  So  many  persons  have  been  ready  to  laugh  to 
scorn — nay  !  have  laughed  to  scorn — this  earnest,  painstaking  man  of 
the  steam  theory  ;  some  even  believing  that  he  was  lacking  in  mental 
equilibrium.  Is  not  the  question  of  transportation  already  solved,  in 
this  year,  eighteen  hundred  and  four? — when  a  stage  coach  departs 
once  a  week  from  Philadelphia  for  Pittsburg,  leaving  Hotel-keeper  Tom- 
linson's  place  011  Market  street  and  reaching  its  destination  beyond  the 
high-flung  Alleghenies  at  the  picturesque  confluence  of  the  Alle^henv 
and  the  Monongahela,  in  the  space  of  seven  days  !  Persons  who  have 
tried  the  journey  have  written  to  their  friends  dilating  upon  the 
pleasure  they  experienced  and  otherwise  "giving  a  certificate  of 
character"  to  the  route  and  method  as  it  were — such  rapid,  comfortable 
travelling,  and  at  a  cost  of  only  twenty  dollars  per  passenger  with 
eight  dollars  additional  for  meals  "at  good  country  inns/'  This 
charge  likewise  includes  an  allowance  of  twenty  pounds  of  baggage 
for  each  passenger. 


182  THE  STORY  OF  AN  AMERICAN  CITY. 

Let  it  be  noted  that  this  new  line  of  coaches  which  thus  links  the 
extreme  eastern  and  western  sections  of  the  State  of  Perm  is  praised  by 
the  people  and  the  journals  of  the  day  as  a  marvel  in  the  way  of 
enterprise  and  rapid  transit.  It  will  thus  be  understood  and  realized 
how  inopportune  is  this  idea  of  improving  the  latest  improved  method 
of  transportation  ;  especially  since  the  proposed  improvement  involves 
as  one  of  its  agencies  a  portable  fire  with  boiling  water,  an  apparently 
primitive  and  crude  way  of  securing  force  and  motion.  Men  are 
•obstinate,  however,  inventors  certainly  not  excepted,  and  the  new  and 
rapid  line  of  stage  coaches  which  connects  the  Delaware  with  the  Ohio 
appears  to  have  no  effect  on  the  plans  or  spirit  of  the  persevering 
inventor  Evans.  What  is  this  announcement  printed  in  the  news- 
papers early  in  the  year  eighteen  hundred  and  four !  The  steam 
.hobby  is  now  to  have  a  practical  test,  as  this  printed  card,  addressed 
>uto  the  public,"  clearly  indicates.  The  inventor  relates  how  he  built 
a  machine  for  cleaning  docks — a  heavy  mud  flat — put  wheels  to  it  and 
propelled  it  over  land  by  an  engine  one  mile  and  a  half  and  then 
.  guided  it  into  the  Schuylkill  "  although  its  weight  was  equal  to  that 
of  two  hundred  pounds  of  flour."  He  then  fixed  a  paddle-wheel  at 
\  the  stern  and  propelled  it  by  the  engine  down  the  Schuylkill  and  up 
\the  Delaware  to  the  eastern  front  of  the  city,  a  distance  of  sixteen 
[miles,  leaving  all  the  vessels  that  were  under  sail  away  behind.  This 
queer  craft,  a  land  carriage  and  a  flat  boat  combined,  named  by  the 
inventor  an  "  amphibious  digger,"  is  made  the  subject  of  an  exhibition 
"to  the  public"  by  the  enterprising  owner,  and  persons  are  invited  to 
contribute  twenty-five  cents,  if  they  can  afford  the  sum,  one-half  of 
which  is  to  be  paid  to  the  workmen  who  have  helped  build  the 
machine. 

The  exhibition  comes  off  and  proves  successful,  the  inventor's 
announcement  that  "the  machine  is  now  to  be  seen  moving  round 
Centre  Square  at  the  expense  of  the  workmen,  who  expect  twenty-five 
cents  from  every  generous  person  who  may  come  to  see  its  operation," 
having  the  effect  of  drawing  a  large  crowd,  the  benevolent  Mr.  Evans 
having  added  in  his  card  the  intelligence  that  "all  are  invited  to  come 
and  view  it,  as  well  those  who  cannot  as  those  who  can  spare  the 


money." 


The  demon  of  steam  is  evidently  not  to  be  suppressed.  The 
"amphibious  digger  "  and  its  movement  on  wheels  by  the  force  of  the 
vapory  element  creates  something  of  a  sensation,  and  inventor  Evans 
finds  men  coming  to  shake  him  by  the  hand  who  have  for  some  time 
past  been  keeping  out  of  his  way.  It  looks  as  if  he  might  be  success- 


EXHIBITION   OF   THK    "AMPHIBIOUS   DIGGER."  185 


ful,  in  which  case  he  lias  an  invention  of  no  small  value.  Thenceforth 
the  name  of  Oliver  Evans  is  inseparably  connected  in  the  minds  of 
people  with  everything  relating  to  the  development  of  power  by  steam. 
Not  long  after  the  exhibition  in  Centre  Square  the  inventor,  grown 
bolder  and  more  confident  under  public  approval,  makes  some 
remarkable  predictions  in  print ;  says  "  the  time  will  come  when 
people  will  travel  in  stages  moved  by  steam  engines  at  fifteen  to 
twenty  miles  an  hour.  A  carriage  will  leave  Washington  in  the 
morning,  breakfast  at  Baltimore,  dine  at  Philadelphia  and  sup  in 
N<*w  York  on  the  same  day.  Railways  will  be  laid  of  wood  or  iron, 
or  on  smooth  paths  of  broken  stone  or  gravel,  to  travel  as  well  by 
night  as  by  day.  A  steam  engine  will  drive  a  carriage  one  hundred 
and  eighty  miles  in  twelve  hours,  or  engines  will  drive  boats  ten  or 
twelve  miles  an  hour,  and  hundreds  of  boats  will  run  on  the  Mis- 
sissippi and  other  waters  as  was  prophesied  thirty  years  ago  (by  Fitch), 
but  the  velocity  of  boats  can  never  be  made  equal  to  that  of  carriages 
upon  rails  because  the  resistance  in  water  is  eight  hundred  times  more 
than  that  in  air.  Posterity  will  not  be  able  to  discover  why  the  Legis- 
lature or  Congress  did  not  grant  the  inventor  such  protection  as  might 
have  enabled  him  to  put  in  operation  those  great  improvements  sooner, 
he  having  neither  asked  money  nor  a  monopoly  of  any  existing  thing." 
Words  of  true  prophesy,  long  since  fulfilled  ! — though  in  the  ful- 
filling too  late  to  rekindle  the  spark  of  satisfaction  and  joy  which 
men  knew  so  well,  flickering  in  the  deep,  earnest  eyes  of  the  untiring 
enthusiast,  working  so  hard  for  the  faith  that  is  in  him,  with  the  charm 
and  attractiveness  even  of  gentle  woman  in  aroused  sincerity  and 
zeal,  and  thrice  forceful  and  appealing  to  the  memory  in  view  of  the 
patient  and  cheerful  perseverance,  albeit  unrewarded,  as  the  closing 
words,  almost  pathetic  in  their  mild  reproach,  so  eloquently  attest. 
Yet,  it  is,  perhaps,  as  well,  for  the  way  is  still  long  and  tedious  for  the 
development  of  this  cherished  theory  of  steam,  the 'combined  influences 
of  ignorance,  prejudice  and  self-interest  being  yet  to  overcome.  How 
the  powerful  trio  struggle  and  battle  with  the  genius  of  vapor  through 
a  long  course  of  years  and  how  they  are  aided  and  abetted  by  a 
formidable  enemy  known  as  Canal  system  !  Everywhere  in  the  city 
and  State  of  Penn  there  is  talk  about  the  necessity  of  improved  means 
of  transportation,  yet,  even  when  the  subject  of  a  railroad  is  suggested 
Canal  appears  and  makes  his  bow  to  the  public  with  the  air  and 
manner  of  one  who  has  a  prior  claim  on  the  attention  of  his  patrons. 
Railroad  speaks  for  consideration  in  a  certain  citizens'  meeting  in  the 
Philadelphia  Court-house  in  the  month  of  January,  year  eighteen  him- 


186  THE  STORY  OF  AN  AMERICAN  CITY. 

dred  and  twenty-five,  at  which  assemblage  are  present  such  noted 
figures  as  General  Thomas  Cadwalader,  Matthew  Carey,  John  Sergeant, 
Samuel  Chew,  Jr.,  Thomas  Biddle,  Josiah  Randall,  Samuel  Archer  and 
Charles  J.  Ingersoll.  Chief  Justice  Tilghman  presides  and  Nicholas 
Biddle  is  Secretary.  Public  interest  is  strongly  aroused  now  over  a 
certain  scheme  to  dig  a  Canal  from  the  Susquehanna  to  the  Allegheny 
and  thence  to  Erie's  lake  ;  the  meeting  appoints  a  committee  to  take 
said  proposed  improvements  into  consideration.  Railroad  asks  to  be 
included  in  the  subject  matter  of  the  Committees'  deliberations,  its 
spokesman,  Mr.  Ingersoll,  presenting  a  motion  "  directing  the  Com- 
mittee to  inquire  into  the  expediency  of  railroads." 

The  Committee  takes  the  matter  in  hand  and  discusses  it  and 
ponders  over  it  for  several  weeks.  An  adjourned  meeting  is  called, 
opportunely  at  a  time  which  fits  in  nicely  with  the  enthusiasm  and 
felicitations  of  the  friends  of  the  Canal  idea  who  have  just  completed 
the  Schuylkill  navigation  enterprise  and  are  prepared  to  show  the 
public  that,  as  means  of  transportation  of  both  persons  and  freight, 
nothing  can  excel  it.  The  Committee  files  in  with  all  the  importance 
in  expression  and  bearing  usually  attaching  to  such  bodies,  and 
presents  its  report.  Canal  shouts  in  triumph  through  every  line  of  the 
interesting  document.  If  the  Committee  did  obey  the  motion  to 
"  inquire  into  the  expediency  of  railroads  "  it  says  nothing  about  it, 
and  Railroad  must  sit  silent  and  chagrined  and  witness  its  potent  rival 
carry  off  the  honors  of  the  occasion.  Yet  it  is  fighting  a  slow,  cautious 
battle.  It  has  its  friends  here  and  there,  and  it  entertains  no  notion  of 
retiring  from  the  field.  The  meeting  appoints  Chief  Justice  Tilghman 
a  Committee  of  One  to  address  a  memorial  to  the  Legislature  on  the 
subject  of  internal  improvements.  The  Committee's  report,  which  sets 
forth  "  That,  in  the  opinion  of  this  meeting,  a  communication  by  water 
between  the  Susquehanna  and  the  Allegheny  rivers  and  between  those 
rivers  and  Lake  Erie  ought  to  be  opened  with  all  practicable  expedi- 
tion at  such  points  as  a  suitable  board  of  skillful  and  experienced 
engineers  may  select,"  recommends  that  the  thing  be  done  at  the 
public  expense,  as  the  work  would  be  "regarded  with  jealousy  in  the 
hands  of  an  individual  or  corporation." 

Meanwhile,  the  Committee  is  experiencing  an  educational  process 
which  disposes  it  to  give  audience  to  Railroad.  The  latter  is  trying  to 
make  the  public  understand  it ;  and  the  public,  whether  because  of  the 
din  and  cry  made  by  Canal  in  its  irrepressible  war  against  its  rival,  or 
whether  from  the  novelty  of  the  subject,  finds  its  comprehension  of  the 
thing  somewhat  slow.  The  Committee  publishes  an  address  giving 


UFI7SESIT7 


THE   AGE    OF   STEAM.  189 


information  as  to  the  proper  way  to  construct  a  railroad  ;  whereupon,  a 
few  days  afterwards  another  publication  appears  from  an  unknown 
source  urging  the  importance  of  increasing  canal  accommodations  in 
the  State.     One  of  the  facts  in  connection  with  commercial  statistics 
brought  out  by  the  agitation  is  the  former  superiority  of  Philadelphia 
over  New  York  as  a  place  of  export ;  the  figures  showing  that  her    /  / 
shipments  to  foreign  ports  had  been  forty  per  cent,  in  excess  of  those  j  j 
of  the  city  on  the  Hudson  until  the  Canal  system,  inaugurated  in  the 
former  province  of  the  Dutch,  was  developed  under  De  Witt  Clinton,  /  / 
since  which  event  New  York  is  rapidly  approaching  Philadelphia  in 
commercial  greatness.     All  the  more  reason  why  the  much  talked  of 
internal   improvements   of  the  former  province  of   Penn  should  be 
decided  upon  and  vigorously  pushed. 

In  this  conflict  in  the  public  mind  between  the  canal  and  the  rail- 
road it  is  worth  while  to  observe  that  the  canal  is  already  established, 
in  places,  while  the  railroad  is  an  unknown,  unseen  and  unseeable 
thing.  Nobody  can  tell  much  about  it  save  what  they  read  in  the 
European  prints  concerning  George  Stephenson's  experiments  in  Eng- 
land about  this  time.  The  canal  has  had  its  "opening  day,"  its 
occasions  of  honor,  and  has  been  toasted,  feted  and  flattered  by  dis- 
tinguished people  in  several  instances  as  Philadelphia  recalls  to  her 
glory.  Did  she  not  entertain  De  Witt  Clinton  during  a  recent  visit  as 
the  guest  of  the  city,  fresh  from  the  scene  of  the  triumph  of  his  great 
undertakings  in  the  way  of  internal  improvements  in  New  York,— 
entertaining  him  to  the  length  of  taking  him  down  the  Delaware  to  jl 
inspect  the  recently  completed  Delaware  and  Chesapeake  Canal  ?  And 
now  that  the  Schuylkill  Navigation  Company's  enterprise  is  completed, 
is  it  strange  that  the  friends  and  stockholders  of  the  canal  companies 
are  pleased  and — what  is  more  to  the  point — determined  not  to  allow 
this  idea  of  a  railroad  to  interfere  with  their  business  and  their  profits  ? 

That  Court  house  Committee  meanwhile  seems  to  be  losing  sight 
of  the  interest  of  the  canal  companies.  Here,  in  the  month  of  March, 
year  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty-five,  it  is  in  reality  publishing  an 
article  on  railroads  with  a  plan  thereof  taken  from  a  European  source. 
The  United  States  Gazette,  which  appears  to  give  both  sides  of  the  ever 
vital  question  impartially,  publishes  a  description  of  a  railroad  in  use 
near  Philadelphia,  at  Leiper's  stone  quarries  in  Delaware  County. 
Likewise  it  has  a  description  of  a  steam  carriage  with  three  whirls. 
invented  by  a  certain  T.  W.  Parker,  of  Edgar  County,  State  of  Illinois, 
which  might  as  well  have  been  Egypt  at  this  time,  in  view  of  the 
lack  of  means  of  rapid  communication.  Evidently  the  genius  of  in- 


190  THE  STORY  OP  AN  AMERICAN  CITY. 

vention  is  at  work  on  all  sides,  and  it  is  not  canals  that  occupy  his 
time  but  railroads.     There  is  John  Stevens  who  so  thoroughly  con- 
vinces capitalists  as  well  as  the  State  Legislature  that  railroads  are  the 
coming  means  of  travel  that  the  important  body  at  Harrisburg  passes 
an  act  giving  him  and  his  associates  power  and  authority  to  go  on  with 
their   proposed   enterprise;   enacting  that   "  John  Connelly,   Michael 
I  Baker,  Horace  Binney,  Stephen  Girard,  Samuel  Humphreys,  of  Phila- 
1  adelphia ;    Emmor  Bradley,  of  Chester  County ;  Amos  Ellmaker,  of 
i  Lancaster  City,  and  John  Barbour  and  William  Wright,  of  Columbia, 
\shall  be  constituted   'the  President  and  Directors  and  Company  of  a 
[Company  to  be  called  The  President,  Directors,  and  Company  of  the 
Pennsylvania  Railroad  Company.' ' 

The  aforesaid  John  Connelly  is  named  as  President  to  exercise 
office  until  an  election  shall  be  held  under  the  provisions  of  the  Act. 
The  Company  is  given  a  life  of  fifty  years,  and  authorized  to  issue  six 
thousand  shares  of  stock  at  one  hundred  dollars  per  share.  Forthwith 
there  is  much  talk  about  the  proposed  road,  many  statements  about 
the  progress  of  the  work  which  prove  to  be  erroneous.  Even  the  usually 
reliable  United  States  Gazette  says  :  "  The  Pennsylvania  iron  road  is  to 
commence  at  Hamiltonville."  One  of  the  much-interested  public 
writes  and  asks  "  What  is  a  railroad?"  whereat  the  Gazette  editor,  being 
too  busy  to  explain,  doubtless,  refers  the  question  to  "some  of  our  cor- 
respondents who  may  be  able  to  throw  light  on  the  matter." 

Thus  things  go  on, — the  struggle  between  the  canal  men  who  want 
none  of  this  railroad  business  in  Pennsylvania,  and  the  railroad  advo- 
cates who  see  wonders  in  the  experiments  with  steam.  The  fourth  day 
of  August,  year  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty-five,  finds  a  convention 
in  the  interest  of  "  internal  improvements  "  in  session  at  Harrisburg, 
Joseph  Lawrence,  of  Philadelphia,  being  elected  chairman,  and  Francis 
R.  Shunk  and  N.  P.  Hobart,  secretaries. 

The  canal  seems  to  possess  the  advantage  in  this  body,  resolu- 
tions being  adopted  favoring  the  digging  of  a  waterway  from  the  Sus- 
quehanna  to  the  Allegheny,  and  from  the  latter  stream  to  Lake  Erie. 
Only  for  a  brief  time,  however ! — the  railroad  is  here  in  convention 
also,  and  has  its  friends.  By  a  strange  coincidence  there  is  published 
at  this  time,  almost  in  the  very  hour  of  the  adoption  of  the  canal  reso- 
lutions, a  paper  from  William  Strickland,  the  gentleman  who  was  sent 
abroad  by  the  "Pennsylvania  Society  for  Internal  Improvements"  for 
the  purpose  of  discovering  the  best  means  of  transportation,  and 
making  report  thereof.  He  stands  forth  in  the  report  as  a  vigorous 
champion  of  railroads.  Writing  from  Edinburg  in  the  month  of  June, 


CAXALS   AND    RAILROADS. 


he  says,  trenchantly :  "I  state  distinctly  my  full  conviction  of  the 
utility  and  decided  superiority  of  railways  above  every  other  mode  as 
means  of  conveyance,  and  one  that  ought  to  command  serious  atten- 
tion and  adoption  by  the  people  of  Pennsylvania." 

The  champions  of  the  railroad  derive  fresh  encouragement  from 
this  letter.     The  canal  men  are  equal  to  the  occasion,  however,  and  an 
article  appears  in  the  United  States  Gazette,  reprinted  from  the  Wil- 
liamsport  Gazette,  in  which  the  writer  argues  that  railroads  are  inex- 
pedient  in    Pennsylvania,  and    canals   are    much    more   economical. 
Again  the  railroad  men  meet  the  challenge,  and  in  the  Gazette  of  the 
day  following  the  publication  of  the  article  mentioned,  is  published 
a  long  letter  in  favor  of  their  method.     The  movements  in  connec- 
tion with   railroads  is  drawing  recruits.     Here,  two  months  later,  in 
October,    is   James   Buchanan — afterwards   President   of  the   United 
States — attending  a  meetiug  of  citizens  in  Columbia,  and  making  a 
speech  in  favor  of  railroads.     Grievous  as  it  is  to  relate  that  charter  of 
the  Legislature  giving  to  John  Stevens  and  his  friends  the  right  to 
build  a  railroad  from  Philadelphia  to  Columbia  has  not  amounted  to 
anything,  the  supposition  being  strong  that  all  the  proposed  under- 
taking lacks  is  money,  and  that  no  body  of  men  can  be  found  willing 
to  advance  a  sum  sufficient  for  an  enterprise  so  great  and  costly ;  or,  is 
it  money  in  reality  that  is  lacking,  or  faith  ?     Is  not  there  one  among 
those  incorporators  and  directors  named  Stephen  Girard,  shrewd  and 
thrifty  Philadelphia!!  merchant  and  wealthiest  man  in  Pennsylvania  ? 
If  an  individual  of  so  much  sound  judgment  and  known  enterprise  in 
business  allows  this  Railroad  scheme,  with  which  his  name  is  officially 
connected,  to  languish,  can  it  be  expected  that  persons  outside,  with 
money  to  invest,  will  step  forward  and  risk  a  penny  in  the  thing  now 
or  hereafter?     Wherefore  it  appears  that  this  persistent  and  importu- 
ncte  visitant,  Railroad,  which  has  been  knocking  at  the  doors  of  the 
Legislature  and   at  those  of  the  counting-rooms  of  merchants  and 
bankers,   is  under  some  suspicion,  an  unwelcome    character  at   the 
temples  of  the  money-lenders,   and  altogether  uncertain,   unreliable 
and  unprofitable.     The  conservative  opinion  of  the  day  frowns  upon 
the  newcomer,  and  they  who  advocate  its  claims  risk  much  in  the 
estimate  of  those  who  have  made  a  success  in  the  world  of  business 
and  whose  disapproval  of  any  given  undertaking  means  much  in  de- 
termining the  popular  judgment.     Truly  the  man  of  faith  in  new  and 
novel  things,  devised  for  the  benefit  of  mankind,  has  a  rugged  road  as 
he  threads  the  pathway  of  a  varying  public  opinion  founded  on  pre- 
conceived notions,  prejudice,  force  of  habit  and  real  ignorance.    Things 


194  THE  STORY  OF  AN  AMERICAN  CITY. 

are  invented  of  great  worth,  as  was  Oliver  Evans'  "  amphibious 
digger,"  but  the  inventor  is  in  advance  of  his  day,  and  his  brother-in- 
misery,  the  promoter,  becomes  a  familiar  and  not  in  the  least  accept- 
able figure  at  the  haunts  of  capitalists  and  of  persons  of  worldly 
influence,  endeavoring  in  his  strong  persuasive  way  to  secure  some 
slight  recognition  and  support,  only  to  discover  in  many  cases  that  his 
hobby  excites  doubt  and  distrust,  because,  for  one  reason,  it  is  some- 
thing new,  as  if  everything  in  the  way  of  man's  handiwork  was  not 
new  at  one  time  or  other  !  Nevertheless,  the  inventor  and  the  promoter 
go  on  over  their  thorny  road,  the  real  pioneers  in  all  industrial  progress, 
and  in  the  course  of  years  if  life  continues,  they  find  their  fellow-men 
educated  up  to  their  ideas,  and  gladly  utilizing  that  which  cost  them  so 
much  labor  and  patience, — utilizing  it  sometimes  to  their  profit,  oftener 
after  all  hope  of  reward  is  gone  and  only  the  realization  of  disappoint- 
ment and  keen  regrets  is  left  as  their  portion  for  the  weary  toil  and  effort. 

How  many  efforts  shall  begin  and  fail  before  Capital  in  this  State 
of  Penn  gives  countenance  to  the  Railroad  ?  Here  in  this  session  of 
the  Legislature,  which  grants  the  incorporators  of  the  Philadelphia 
and  Columbia  scheme,  their  charter  is  another  measure  in  the  uncer- 
tain scale  of  senatorial  deliberation,  providing  for  the  construction  of  a 
railroad  from  Harrisburg  to  Pittsburg  ;  originating  in  the  Senate  only 
to  fail  in  the  House. 

Stevens  and.  his  friends  having  failed  to  make  use  of  the  charter 
given  them  by  the  Legislature  the  State  finally  takes  the  matter  in 
hand,  constructs  the  road  itself  from  the  Lancastrian  city  to  Phila- 
delphia, overcoming  the  problem  of  obstructive  hills  by  establishing 
incline  planes,  creating  a  necessity  for  many  transfers  but  pleasing  the 
people  and  the  shippers  of  goods  immensely.  From  such  small  begin- 
ning the  railroad  develops  gradually,  its  powerful  rival,  the  Canal 
system,  receding  from  public  favor  as  the  utility  of  the  steam-propelling 
method  advances  until  the  Delaware,  and  not  alone  the  Ohio  and  the 
Monongahela,  but  the  great  lakes  and  the  gigantic  Mississippi  are 
joined  by  the  vast  system  of  the  company  which  bears  the  name  of 
the  old  Province  of  Penn  and  verifies  the  prophecy  of  the  clear-sighted 
Oliver  Evans,  spoken  in  an  era  of  experiment  and  speculative  thought 
when  mortals  knew  not  their  powers  of  mind — save  the  prophet  him- 
self— but  were  groping  for  that  which  came  with  time  and  circum- 
stances in  the  first  half  of  the  great  nineteenth  century  to  revolu- 
tionize—the greatest  revolution  of  all — the  state  and  condition  of  that 
being  called  man,  as  they  had  been  for  all  the  centuries  of  which 
civilization  has  note. 


CHAPTER   XL 

THE  DUEL  BETWEEN  THE  CANAL  AND  THE  RAILROAD  SUPPLKMKXTKD  BY  A  LONG  AND 
TEDIOUS  STRUGGLE  BETWEEN  GAS  AND  A  POPULAR  PREJUDICE  IN  WHICH  THE 
FORMER  COMES  OUT  VICTOR— FIRST  GAS  PIPES  IN  AMERICA  LAID  IN  PHILADELPHIA. 

IX  all  this  striving  and  straggling  between  the  aspiring  devices  of 
men,  clamorous  for  recognition,  for  utilization  in  the  great  in- 
dustrial hurly-burly  which  is  evolving  each  day  some  new  idea 
or  proclaiming  some  fresh  discovery  for  the  benefit  of  mankind,  there 
is  one  thing  to  be  observed  in  the  ever-growing  and  constantly  vital- 
izing Philadelphia  :  every  man  has  an  opinion  on  the  subject  of  the 
numerous  innovations  coming  up  and  he  takes  position  either  for  or 
against  them.  This  prolonged  and  uncertain  duel  between  the  Canal 
and  the  Railroad  is  at  the  outset  greatly  to  the  advantage  of  the  former 
since  its  claims  arc  self-evident,  demonstrable  to  the  average  reason, 
and  extremely  simple.  Besides,  included  among  all  its  ready-made 
converts  there  are  its  hosts  of  especial  friends  and  zealous  advocates  in 
the  persons  of  those  who  live  along  or  contiguous  to  navigable  streams, 
which  being  available  as  feeders  to  the  Canal  and  likewise  indicating 
in  their  own  smooth  flow  the  most  practicable  and  economical  of 
routes,  make  it  reasonably  certain  that  the  much-desired  water-way 
will  operate  in  close  proximity  to  their  homes  and  render  them  easily 
accessible  to  the  large  centres  of  population. 

The  untried  and  untested  Railroad,  in  its  early  struggle  with  its 
antagonist,  commands  no  such  simple  and  ready  means  of  accommo- 
dation. It  is  an  uiidemonstrated,  perplexing,  occult  thing,  especially 
in  the  matter  of  this  incomprehensible  theory  of  steam.  The  average 
mind  cannot  fathom  the  intricacies  of  an  engine,  and  therefore  it  is 
that  the  business  of  an  engineer  is  a  skilled  trade.  The  Canal  requires 
110  more  than  a  huge  ditch  filled  to  a  certain  depth  with  water,  and  its 
simple  locks  and  wings  operating  openly  before  the  eye  are  clearly 
understandable.  But  this  Railroad  idea  is  deep — too  deep  for  the 
average  comprehension  of  the  people,  and  thus  the  glad  promoters  of 
the  water-way  idea  of  transportation  find  the  majority  largely  on  their 
side,  and  for  a  number  of  years  they  hold  the  disputed  ground.  The 
clear-minded,  far-seeing  Oliver  Evans  is  not  here  in  this  year  of  grace 
eighteen  hundred  and  twenty-five  when  "  internal  improvements  "  is  1 1  ie 
uppermost  thought  in  Philadelphia,  and  when  the  Canal  and  the  Rail- 
road are  having  their,  for  a  time,  unequal  struggle; 

(197) 


198  THE  STORY  OF  AN  AMERICAN  CITY. 

Yet  there  is  another  thing  eliciting  attention  in  these  progressive 
days  when  the  city  is  growing  so  rapidly  and  innovation  is  clamoring 
for  admittance  at  all  its  doors.  The  subject  of  illuminating  the  streets 
and  houses  with  gas  is  ever  coming  up,  irrepressible,  undisposable, 
bothersome.  There  has  been  reference  made  hitherto  to  the  fact  of  the 
vast  debt  owed  by  Americans,  by  modern  civilization  for  that  matter, 
to  the  advanced  minds,  the  ingenuity  and  the  liberal  character  of  the 
Italians.  The  members  of  the  polite  and  philosophic  race  are  ever 
coming  up  apparently  when  there  is  occasion  to  mention  the  discovery 
or  the  introduction  of  some  great  boon  to  mankind.  Not  alone  Col- 
umbus and  Vespucci  in  their  large  sphere  of  action,  involving  the 
finding  and  the  accurate  description  of  a  new  world,  but  painstaking 
Italian  scientists  arid  demonstrators  have  a  leading  part  in  the  enrich- 
ment of  the  people  whose  existence  on  American  soil  in  this  era  was 
made  possible  by  the  Columbian  event.  There  was  the  firm  of  Michael 
Ambroise  &  Co.,  Italian  fire-workers,  who  had  an  amphitheatre  for 
exhibitions  on  Arch  street,  near  Ninth,  in  the  year  seventeen  hundred 
and  ninty-six,  when  they  created  something  of  a  sensation  by  the  dis- 
play of  inflammable  gas ;  representations  of  "  temples,  mosques, 
masonic  emblems  and  allegorical  devices,"  according  to  Westcott.  The 
sight  of  the  "  inflammable  air  "  was  enough  to  arouse  the  curiosity  and 
the  interest  of  citizens  who  regarded  it  as  a  great  novelty.  The  inno- 
vator on  the  subject  of  gas  appeared  seven  years  later,  or  in  eighteen 
hundred  and  three,  in  the  form  of  J.  C.  Henfrey,  who  proposes  to  the 
Councils  that  for  a  consideration  he  will  light  the  city  by  gas  lights 
"burned  in  high  towers" — evidence  clearly  that  the  modern  electric- 
light  tower  can  not  lay  claim  to  strict  originality.  The  Council  refuse 
the  proposition,  of  course  ;  there  is  not  enough  knowledge  of  the  nature 
and  ways  of  this  gas  to  justify  so  much  risk  to  life  and  property. 

Yet  the  gas  question,  like  the  later  question  of  the  Railroad,  will 
not  rest.  Refusal  of  privileges  does  not  silence  it.  Another  applica- 
is  before  Councils  fourteen  years  later,  in  the  year  eighteen  hundred 
and  seventeen  ; — petition  of  James  McMurtrie  who  wishes  to  introduce 
gas  lighting.  Twenty-one  years  from  the  date  of  the  Ambroise  demon- 
stration, and  fourteen  years  from  the  time  Henfrey  proposed  to  illu- 
minate the  town  with  gas  from  towers,  and  110  gas  plant  yet !  The 
wheels  of  progress,  rapid  as  they  seemed  to  move  in  these  olden  clays, 
are  verily  at  a  standstill  before  the  eyes  of  the  American  of  the  Colum- 
bian year  in  this  nineteenth  century. 

There  was  Dr.  Charles  Kugler,  one  year  before  James  McMurtrie's 
application  in  eighteen  hundred  and  sixteen,  exhibiting  to  the  public 


I 

IS- 


UNIVERSITY 


STRUGGLE    BETWEEN   GAS   AND    POPULAR  PREJUDICE.  201 

in  Peale's  Museum  in  the  State  House  "gas  lights  and  lamps  burning 
without  wicks  or  oil;"  the  effect  of  which  is  so  satisfactory  that 
Warren  &  Wood  introduce  the  gas  light  at  their  new  theatre,  quite  a 
safe  venture  since  the  doctor  has  a  gas  apparatus  himself  with  which 
he  has  been  providing  the  means  of  illumination  for  his  own  house  for 
some  months  past.  It  is  considered  a  strange  thing  that  Councils  at 
this  time  and  for  years  thereafter  refuse  to  sanction  any  production  of 
gas  under  municipal  privilege.  There  are  times  when  the  Councils 
are  more  liberal  in  their  views  on  the  subject,  and  again  there  are  oc- 
casions when  they  look  upon  it  with  disfavor.  For  example,  Peale, 
who  has  been  lighting  his  Museum  in  the  State  House  with  it  for 
several  years  past,  finds  the  Councils  objecting  to  its  continuance  in 
the  year  eighteen  hundred  and  eighteen,  and  he  therefore  dispenses 
with  it,  muchto  the  regret  of  his  patrons. 

Meanwhile  the  inflammable  mystery  is  being  used  in  Masonic 
Hall,  which  has  a  small  manufactory  producing  it  for  its  own  service, 
and  continues  to  be  used  there  until  the  ninth  of  March,  year  eighteen 
hundred  and  nineteen,  when  the  hall  is  burned,  and  gas  is  supposed  to 
be  responsible  for  the  disaster.  Yet  the  Masons  are  not  ready  to  do 
away  with  it,  and  when  their  hall  is  rebuilt,  in  the  year  eighteen  hun- 
dred and  twenty-two,  it  also  has  a  new  gas-works  attached.  The 
Masons  have  faith  in  the  thing  ;  desire  to  lay  pipes  in  the  streets  to 
furnish  other  consumers,  but  Councils  refuse  permission.  Had  the 
privilege  been  allowed  the  Masons  would  have  furnished  the  new 
Chestnut  Street  Theatre  with  illumination,  but  as  a  consequence  the 
theatre  is  lighted  in  the  old  way  with  oil  lamps.  The  struggle 
between  gas  and  the  popular  prejudice  continues.  Even  in  the  year 
eighteen  hundred  and  twenty-five,  when  the  Canal  and  Railroad  are 
beginning  to  know  each  other  better  as  antagonists,  gas  has  its  own 
battle  in  the  more  restricted  territory  of  the  city.  An  effort  is  made  in 
the  Legislature  in  this  year  to  pass  a  bill  to  incorporate  the  Phila- 
delphia Gas  Light  Company  with  power  to  manufacture  and  furnish 
gas  and  lay  pipes  in  the  streets.  This  measure  is  fair  game  for  all  the 
opponents  of  gas,  including  the  Councils,  which  becomes .  thoroughly 
aroused  and  opposes  the  proposed  legislation  so  vigorously  it  is 
defeated.  Meantime  the  public  has  been  busy  with  protests  through 
the  medium  of  the  newspapers.  One  citizen,  writing  to  the  United 
States  Gazette,  denounces  the  proposition  to  light  the  streets  and  houses 
with  gas  as  "a  folly,  unsafe,  unsure,  a  trouble  and  a  nuisance.  Com- 
mon lamps  take  the  shine  off  all  gas  lights  that  ever  exhaled  their 


202  THE  STORY  OF  AN  AMERICAN  CITY. 

intolerable  stench."     Other  citizens  declare  gas  is  a  nuisance  and  the 
popular  clamor  against  it  is  very  great. 

The  gas  men  are  not  discouraged.  Granted  that  they  have 
iigured  out  prospectively  a  fine  profit  in  the  business,  they  are,  neverthe- 
less, advanced  and  progressive,  otherwise  they  would  not  have  the  faith 
to  risk  their  time  and  their  money  in  such  a  thing.  They  try  again 
in  the  year  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty-six  but  without  result.  The 
Councils  finally  appoint  a  committee  to  inquire  into  the  subject.  This 
is  a  step  forward, — an  immense  stride,  in  fact,  if  measured  by  its  past 
course.  A  certain  Robinson  &  Long — Henry  Robinson  and  Robert 
Carey  Long — are  connected  with  a  scheme  for  lighting  Baltimore  and 
they  want  a  similar  privilege  in  Philadelphia.  The  Committee  of  the 
•Councils  considers  their  proposition,  and  after  the  lapse  of  a  year  the 
Committee  reports  favorably  upon  it.  Common  Council  adopts  the 
report,  but  the  Select  branch  refuses  its  assent  and  the  question  still 
languishes.  Again,  in  the  year  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty  an 
attempt  is  made  to  obtain  a  charter  and  privilege,  but  like  all  previous 
efforts  it  fails. 

It  is  worthy  of  observation  here  that  in  the  experience  of  these 
later  endeavors  in  the  direction  of  securing  the  gas-light,  the  Councils 
do  not  refuse  on  account  of  any  doubt  on  the  question  of  the  utility 
-and  merit  of  the  scheme.  They  have  begun  to  think  that  if  the  busi- 
ness of  supplying  gas  to  streets  and  to  individuals  is  so  profitable  as  to 
cause  men  to  make  such  strenuous  efforts  to  get  it,  the  city  might  as 
well  have  the  benefit  of  the  scheme  itself.  Yet  the  petitions  and 
attempts  to  secure  the  coveted  prize  do  not  end  on  account  of  any  new 
attitude  on  the  part  of  the  city.  Peter  A.  Browne  petitions  Councils 
for  privilege  to  lay  a  pipe  on  Carpenter  street  and  Lodge  alley,  crossing 
Seventh  street  and  connecting  with  the  gas-works  at  the  Masonic  Hall. 
The  Councils  finally  grant  him  the  privilege  asked,  but  he  does  not 
avail  himself  of  it. 

The  Councils  have  growrn  familiar  with  the  subject,  and  the  more 
they  know  of  it  the  more  liberal  they  are  becoming.  In  fact,  the 
people  who  are  opposed  to  gas  and  who  swayed  the  Councils  by  the 
vigor  of  their  belief  for  so  long  a  time  are  beginning  to  call  the 
Councils  hard  names  as  they  find  they  are  more  favorably  disposed 
toward  gas.  Their  action  does  not  deter  the  Councils,  however.  They 
have  a  committee  appointed  especially  for  the  purpose  of  dealing  with 
this  gas  question  ;  committee  being  instructed  to  ascertain  the  cost  of 
•erecting  and  operating  a  works  with  a  capacity  sufficient  to  supply  the 
city.  The  committee  goes  to  work  with  zeal  and  reports  the  result  of 


CIIKSTNUT  STREET,  FROM  LEDGER  BUILDING,  Sixth  and  Chestnut  Streets,  looking  west. 


UHI7SRSITY 


FIRST   GAS-PIPES    IN   AMERICA   LAID    IN   PHILADELPHIA.  205 

its  investigations  and  calculations.  The  business-like  proceedings  of 
the  Councils  on  the  gas  question  still  further  displeases  the  citizens 
who  are  opposed  to  the  thing.  Remonstrances  begin  to  flow  into  the 
chambers  of  the  Councils.  One  of  the  members  of  the  opposition,  in 
his  remonstrance,  protested  against  "  the  plan  now  in  agitation  of 
lighting  the  city  with  gas  as  one  of  the  most  inexpedient,  offensive  and 
dangerous  nature  ;  in  saying  this  we  are  fully  sustained  by  the 
accounts  of  explosion,  loss  of  life,  and  great  destruction  of  property 
where  this  mode  of  lighting  has  been  adopted.  We  consider  gas  to  be 
as  ignitible  as  gunpowder  and  nearly  as  fatal  in  its  effects." 

Papers  are  submitted  likewise  in  favor  of  the  introduction  of  gas ; 
documents  embodying  statistics  from  cities  and  towns  abroad,  showing 
the  benefit  of  the  thing.  While  the  purpose  of  the  Councils  to  so  legis- 
late as  to  make  the  City  the  owner  of  the  proposed  gas-works  is  clearly 
foreshadowed  applications  from  private  persons  still  flow  into  the  two 
Chambers.  Mark  Richards  and  James  J.  Rush  write  to  the  Councils 
that  they  are  authorized  to  offer,  in  return  for  the  privilege  they  seek, 
to  light  four  lamps  in  every  square  free  of  charge  ;  they  only  desire  the 
right  to  lay  pipes  and  supply  consumers.  Rejected.  D.  B.  Lee  and 
W.  Beach  propose,  in  this  year  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty-four,  to 
erect  a  tower  and  supply  the  light  therefrom  at  a  moderate  cost — the 
second  occasion  in  which  the  tower  figures  in  this  gas  controversy. 

Rejected. 

The  Councils  this  year,  still  non-committal,  resolve  to  send  an 
expert  to  Europe  to  make  inquiry  as  to  the  use  of  gas  there.  The 
emissary  chosen  is  Samuel  V.  Merrick.  He  sails  at  once  and  returning 
in  October,  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty-four,  makes  a  report  strongly 
favorable  to  gas.  This  practically  settles  the  controversy.  The  two 
Chambers  in  March,  year  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty-five,  pass  an 
ordinance  for  the  "  construction  and  management  of  the  Philadelphia 
Gas  Works,"  and  the  city  has,  through  all  the  long  siege  of  private 
applicants  and  enterprising  promoters,  come  out  victor  in  a  matter 
affecting  every  person  and  household  within  her  limits.  In  this  out- 
come the  City  of  Penn  takes  her  place  among  her  sister  towns  of  the 
land  as  the  first  to  lay  gas  mains,  erect  a  plant,  and  furnish  to  the 
public  the  new  system  of  illumination, — a  precedent  entirely  fit  and 
proper  in  the  leading  American  city  and  the  place  of  birth  of  the 
nation. 


MANUFACTURERS'  CLUH,  Walnut  and  Broad  Streets. 


CHAPTER   XII. 

THE  PAST  IN  CONTRAST  WITH  THE  EARLY  YEARS  OF  THE  GOLDEN  ERA— PHH.  ADI-LIMIT  A 
OF  REVOLUTIONARY  DAYS  AND  OF  THE  DAYS  OF  GREAT  INDUSTRIAL  DEVELOPS  I:NT 
UNDER  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  THE  AGE  OF  INVENTION— THE  CENTENNIAL  OF  1876. 

IT  is  now  the  staid  " oldest  Philadelphia!!/'  with  his  set  ways,  rigid 
habits,  personal  recollections  of  Revolutionary  days — of  the  first 
Congress  and  of  great  deeds  attending  the  birth  of  a  big  nation  in 
a  new  world,  with  Liberty  and  Independence  expressive  of  its  funda- 
mental principle — finds  himself,  as  it  seems,  a  stranger  in  the  city  of 
his  birth,  with  its  stirring  memories  of  devoted  patriotism,  of  self-sacri. 
fice  and  unfaltering  courage  and  faith  through  all  the  ills  in  the 
power  of  a  despotic  foe  to  inflict.  New  things  are  dawning  before  his 
failing  vision  and  he  gazes  uncertain,  perplexed  and  doubtful  as  he 
rubs  his  strong-bowed  spectacles,  scarce  knowing  whether  he  is  sleeping 
or  awake.  For,  the  forces  of  nature,  compounded,  united,  diffused 
and  directed  by  the  power  of  man  are  doing  things  in  these  days,  as 
the  years  approach  the  towering  milestone  of  the  half-way  point  in  the 
century,  which  in  a  less  enlightened  era  would  be  ascribed  to  the 
might  of  Satan  himself.  What  means  that  black,  bulky  thing  of  iron, 
flying  over  earth's  plane  with  a  lot  of  wooden  carriages  in  its  wake, 
faster  than  the  driven  clouds  of  the  heavens,  with  its  long,  serpentine 
trail  of  smoke,  slowly  ascending  and  black  against  the  sky  in  the 
fading  evening  light?  And  now — hark  !  a  long,  loud,  ear-piercing 
shriek  as  the  flying,  steaming  thing  approaches  the  old  city  of  Penn, 
makes  it  more  than  ever  sure  that  this  aged  citizen  of  heroic  memories 
has  lived  to  see  strange  times  and  things  undreamt  of  in  his  earlier 
days.  No  longer  is  this  renowned  revolutionary  city,  rearing  its  head 
erect  and  impressive  before  the  wondering  gaze  of  nations,  the  quiet, 
peaceful  town  of  the  "  Night  watch,"  and  of  the  banquets  at  that 
famous  City  Tavern  with  Washington,  Lafayette,  John  Adam-. 
Rochambeau,  M.  de  Luzerne  (the  French  minister),  firm  old  Chief 
Justice  McKean,  Robert  Morris,  Franklin,  and  the  whole  patriot  host, 
so  grand  and  stately  in.  the  memory  with  their  high  aims  and  lofty 
principles,  gracing  the  hospitable  board  and  pledging  with  the  sparkle 
of  good  wine  the  weal  and  prosperity  of  the  new-born  nation.  A  new 
day  has  come  to  the  American  City  of  Independence  as  to  all  cities 
whore  civilization  holds  sway  ;  and  the  man  of  years,  as  he  gazes  upon 

(209) 


210  THE  STORY  OF  AN  AMERICAN  CITY. 

the  strange  faces  and  the  figures  that  jostle  him  on  the  street,  fresh 
from  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  land  whence  they  departed  only  a  few 
days  ago,  shakes  his  head  sadly  and  repairs  to  his  old  style  home  to 
brood  and  meditate,  reviewing  once  more  in  his  memory  the  patriot 
troop  in  patient,  toilsome  procession  as  it  moves  on  that  eventful 
march  which  had  its  culmination  at  Monmouth  ;  or,  later,  as  with 
faces  bent  southward,  it  streams  into  town  by  way  of  Trenton,  Wash- 
ington, Rochambeau,  Chastellux,  Knox  and  Moultrie,  with  the  cheer- 
ing thousands  on  all  the  streets,  the  dignified  Congress  and  M.  de 
Luzerne  viewing  the  spectacle  from  the  State  House,  with  De  Soisson- 
nais'  brilliant  French  regiment,  with  "  facings  of  rose  color  and  white 
and  rose  colored  plumes  in  the  caps  of  the  grenadiers  "  creating  wild 
enthusiasm  on  that  memorable  and  world-thrilling  move  against  Corn- 
wallis  at  Yorktown. 

Well  may  the  aged  citizen  muse  and  yearn  for  things  as  he  knew 
them  of  yore.  This  new  world  is  not  his  world  ;  the  new  day  which 
has  dawned  is  strange  and  unseemly.  Old  land-marks  are  going  and 
the  memory  of  old  things,  of  great  deeds,  will  be  lost  in  the  hurry 
and  confusion  of  these  new  and  ungainly  contrivances  of  men,  level- 
ling the  earth,  penetrating  the  hills  and  making  people  so  active 
and  busy  they  scarcely  have  time  to  exchange  the  courtesies  of  the 
day  with  the  ceremonious  manner  of  the  olden,  time.  He  sees  old 
structures  demolished  ;  the  street  along  which  Washington  and  his 
troops  marched  has  changed,  lost  its  identity,  and  the  rows  of  grand 
buildings  which  now  face  it  from  either  side  are  not  the  ones  he  knew 
in  his  younger  days.  The  Delaware  front  is  changed  ;  great  wharves, 
far-reaching  with  their  tedious  miles  of  "  bolted  and  girded  capacity 
for  ships  "  stand  boldly  against  the  deep  and  restless  tidal  stream.  He 
walks  along  Chestnut  street — historic  thoroughfare — gazes  at  the 
massive  buildings  of  marble  and  granite  and  sighs  for  the  old  brick 
structures  so  familiar  to  his  younger  days,  and  then  turning,  faces  the 
State  House  !  Grand,  imposing  edifice !  It  stands  as  of  yore,  and 
beneath  that  memorable  dome  hangs  the  wrorld-famed  bell,  mute 
symbol  now  of  an  act  so  simple,  yet  so  great  and  momentous  in  its 
effect  upon  the  destiny  of  such  a  vast  and  important  portion  of  man- 
kind. So  stands,  likewise,  venerable  Carpenters'  Hall,  scene  of  the 
first  meeting  of  the  Colonial  Congress  and  ever  a  monument  to  the 
thrift  and  prosperity  of  the  condition  of  the  Philadelphia!!  mechanic. 

With  all  the  improvement,  the  innovations,  industrial  expansion, 
consolidation  of  districts  and  extension  of  streets — until  out  of  twelve 
hundred  miles  thereof  nine  hundred  miles  are  paved — the  city  of 


'HKSTNTT  STREET,  from  corner  of  Seventh,  looking  west. 


THE   FIRST   ANNIVERSARY  OF   INDEPENDENCE.  213 

Penn  has  held  fast  to  her  traditions,  to  her  early  spirit  of  patriotism, 
of  philanthropy,  of  charity,  of  hospitality.  And  what  a  spirit  of 
patriotism  from  the  beginning  !  One  year  after  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  although  in  the  throes  of  war  she  made  the  most  of 
that  first  anniversary  and  never  did  the  voice  of  patriotism  rise  higher 
and  novel'  was  celebration  more  proper  and  fit.  The  Congress  is  at  the 
head  of  the  affair  ;  gives  a  dinner  to  civil  and  military  notables  at  the 
City  Tavern,  at  which  Rahl's  captured  Hessian  band  furnishes  the 
music — truly  the  irony  of  fate  was  there  exemplified  ! — while  a  corps 
of  deserters  from  the  British  army  now  in  the  service  of  Georgia's 
command  discharges  patriotic  salutes,  assuredly  an  open  manifestation 
of  goodwill  toward  the  patriotic  occasion.  After  their  feasting  the 
Congress  and  their  guests  must  review  a  certain  famous  artillery 
battalion,  the  Maryland  Lighthorse,  and  likewise  a  brigade  of  noted 
fighters  from  North  Carolina,  said  review  taking  place  on  Second 
street.  Meanwhile,  all  the  vessels  in  the  harbor  display  bunting,  man 
their  yards  and  fire  salutes.  The  great  celebration  closes  in  the  even- 
ing with  the  ringing  of  bells,  which  joyous  demonstration  is  led  by 
the  most  noted  of  the  lot,  the  State  House  giant  of  the  world-rounding 
lungs. 

The  second  anniversary  of  the  Declaration  comes  most  happily, 
for  many  reasons.  Britain's  hosts  leave  Philadelphia  in  May  after  a 
nine  months'  stay  in  the  patriot  town,  and  we  have  seen  Washington's 
fighters  in  pursuit  across  the  Jersey  meadows,  Captain  Allen  McLane 
and  his  cavalry  ever  pressing  them  closely  until  on  a  certain  eventful 
day,  the  twenty-eighth  of  June,  the  American  army  assails  the  enemy 
at  Monmouth,  and  there  Britain  meets  its  first  great  disaster.  Sir 
Henry  Clinton  with  the  remnant  of  his  force  flees  to  New  York,  while 
a  great  number  of  his  men,  eight  hundred  at  least,  desert  and  hasten 
to  Philadelphia  to  join  the  American  cause,  arriving  on  the  Fourth  of 
July,  of  all  times  !  The  huge  victory  of  the  American  arms  and  the 
presence  of  the  great  platoon  of  deserters  from  the  enemy  are  enough 
to  make  the  dignified  Congress  go  into  rhapsodies  and  to  repair  for  the 
purpose  of  a  fitting  celebration,  both  of  the  anniversary  of  the  great 
day  and  of  the  late  victory,  to  that  popular  hostelry  on  Second  street, 
the  City  Tavern ;  the  Congress  having  previously  been  thoughtful 
enough  to  recommend  to  the  people,  in  view  of  the  scarcity  of  candles 
and  the  heat  of  the  weather,  that  there  be  no  illumination. 

How  this  Fourth  of  July  anniversary,  celebrated  thus  by  the  Con- 
gress and  the  people  of  the  patriotic  American  city,  Philadelphia — 
who  of  all  people  had  the  right  to  celebrate  it — has  stamped  itself 


214  THE   STORY   OF   AN   AMERICAN  CITY. 


deep  on  the  heart  of  every  American  !  Throughout  the  space  of  the 
mighty  land,  with  its  almost  seventy  million  souls, — nay,  beyond  wide 
seas  wherever  the  American  roams, — he  knows  that  wondrous  day  and 
feels  the  thrill  in  every  fibre  as  he  recalls  to  memory  the  deed  enacted 
in  the  time  of  the  tottering  infancy  of  his  nation  in  the  old  tableted 
building  of  brick,  to  be  known  ever  after  as  Independence  Hall,  in  the 
American  town  on  the  bank  of  the  Delaware.  What  memories  the 
day  recalls  and  what  a  vast  amount  of  history  of  this  American  nation 
is  narrated  when  the  reason  for  its  celebration  and  the  consequences  of 
the  thing  which  was  done  on  that  day  are  faithfully  told  ! 

Small  wonder  then,  if  the  aged  Philadelphia!!,  nearing  his  earthly 
goal  in  the  dawn  of  the  golden  era  of  railroads,  telegraph  and  the 
countless  additional  devices  and  improvements  of  man,  should  look 
back  on  the  stirring  days  of  his  youth  and  marvel  at  the  change,  and 
even  long  for  the  close  of  his  mortal  career  ere  all  things  become  new 
1  and  strange.  For,  this  new  thing  among  men,  the  railroad  and  its 
supple,  sinuous  companion,  the  telegraph,  are  producing  marvels  even 
greater  than  themselves,  among  all  conditions  of  men,  and  old  Nature 
is  yielding  up  her  long-hidden  secrets  on  every  side  until  the  brain 
reels  at  the  swift  succession  of  wonderful  things  being  revealed  and  the 
rapidity  with  which  they  are  revolutionizing  the  conditions  of  human 
society,  enabling  man  to  see  himself  as  he  was  in  the  days  of  his  dark- 
ness and  causing  him  to  start  appalled  at  the  immense  distance  he  has 
traversed  in  human  knowledge  within  a  period  of  less  than  half  a 
century.  Fitting  it  was  that  the  city  of  American  independence,  with 
an  energy  and  precision  that  ever  characterizes  her  undertakings, 
.should  have  set  about  and  celebrated  the  Centennial  of  the  Declaration 
promulgated  from  her  own  Town  Hall,  ~by  a  great  World's  Exposition, 
the  first  ever  held  in  the  American  land,  thus  gathering  together  under 
her  auspices  the  best  specimens  of  the  useful  productions  of  man  of 
almost  every  clime  and  race,  Christian,  Mohammedan  and  Pagan. 
Shall  it  be  said  a  new  era  began  for  this  city  of  Penn  with  the  Exhibi- 
tion of  eighteen  hundred  and  seventy-six — an  era  of  accelerated 
material  progress,  industrial  expansion  and  architectural  transforma- 
tion?— an  enlargement  of  boundaries,  an  application  of  manifold 
ideas  associated  with  municipal  improvement,  novelty,  dexterity  and 
increased  excellence  in  domestic  manufacture,  and  in  the  operation  of 
human  ingenuity  and  talent  in  many  and  various  directions.  These 
best  and  cleverest  of  the  bright  nations  of  the  earth,  who,  in  gala 
procession,  pour  into  the  city  of  Independence  bearing  aloft  hands  full 
of  the  latest  products  of  their  varied  trades  and  crafts,  to  display  with 


THE   CENTENNIAL   OF   1876.  217 


congratulatory  demonstration  in  the  hour  of  national  felicity  and 
rejoicing,  may  both  teach  and  learn,  for  it  is  no  uncommon  task  under- 
taken by  the  famous  American  town,  but  a  thing  requiring  all  1  in- 
proverbial  efficiency  and  energy  to  accomplish.  Shall  she  who  has 
sheltered  the  first  American  Congress,  guarded  the  weal  of  the  infant 
nation,  caught  with  glad  surprise  the  first  note  of  Fame's  trumpet 
when  it  proclaimed  the  greatness  of  Washington,  and  been  from  those 
stirring  days  the  Mecca  of  all  whose  eyes  brightend  at  the  rays  of  her 
patriotism  and  bounty — shall  this  renowned  Philadelphia  fail  in  her 
effort,  with  the  world  assembled  beneath  her  hospitable  roof  and  the 
world's  products  emptied  so  lavishly  at  her  feet? 

Read  the  records  of  the  undertaking  of  eighteen  hundred  and 
severity-six  !  Unaided  by  that  Congress  which  her  patriotism  made 
possible,  and  looking  solely  to  her  own  exertions,  the  mammoth  build- 
ings were  reared,  the  grounds  adorned  and  beautified  in  a  portion  of 
that  Fairmouiit  Park,  with  its  twenty-eight  hundred  acres,  and  at  the 
appointed  time  was  revealed  before  the  eyes  of  the  world  the  greatest 
exposition  of  the  products  of  men,  American  and  foreign,  known  to 
that  day  in  Earth's  history.  Thus,  in  the  execution  of  the  task 
involved,  was  employed  the  same  spirit  and  energy  which  barred  the 
Delaware  against  her  mightiest  foe,  which  caught  and  moulded  from 
the  disorganized  and  shifting  mass  of  patriots  in  the  time  of  the 
nation's 'direst  need,  a  formidable,  organized  and  disciplined  mass  of 
fearless  militia,  and  which,  through  all  the  turmoil  of  war,  kept  her 
industries  increasing,  her  capacity  for  useful  production  growing  and 
her  area  of  mills  and  factories  and  workshops  enlarging,  to  an  extent 
that  made  her  capable  of  supplying  her  sister  States  throughout  the 
land  with  all  the  necessaries  and  many  of  the  luxuries  of  life,  much 
to  the  chagrin  of  Britain,  which  saw  no  advantage  in  a  bout  with  a 
rival,  large  or  small,  which  failed  to  retard  its  productive  capacity. 

But  this  city  of  Penn,  unlike  any  in  the  land,  has  ever  refused  to 
remain  stationery  in  any  portion  of  her  space  of  one  hundred  and« 
thirty  square  miles;  and  thus  almost  to  her  remotest  limits  the  smooth 
granite  face  of  her  nine  hundred  miles  of  pavement  tells  the  story  of 
one  of  the  important  forms  of  municipal  improvement  that  attests 
the  progressive  spirit  of  her  government.  Well  may  she  point  to  her 
record  as  a  builder  of  the  "habitations  of  man  " —two  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  buildings,  of  which  two  hundred  thousand  are  separate 
dwellings,  a  number  sufficient  to  accommodate  with  a  single  house 
every  family  within  the  limits  of  the  wide-extending  town  !  Ever  the 
city  of  comfort  this  Philadelphia  of  modern  days  may  well  echo  the 


218  THE  STORY  OF  AN  AMERICAN  CITY. 

demand  embodied  in  the  spirited  challenge  of  the  patriot  mechanic  of 
ante-Revolutionary  days — "  Is  not  half  the  property  in  the  town  owned 
by  men  who  wear  leather  aprons  ?  "  The  buildings  are  reared,  ten 
thousand  of  them  every  year  as  statistics  show,  and  in  the  erection 
thereof  are  poured  out  annually,  the  chief  portion  to  the  labor  em- 
ployed, the  sum  of  twenty  million  dollars.  Not  uncared  for  and  neg- 
lected by  the  jealous  municipality  are  these  miles  of  ever-growing 
habitations  of  the  people :  the  gas  main,  the  water  and  the  drainage 
\  pipes  are  constantly,  watchful  and  serpent-like,  following  them  up. 
|  Four  hundred  miles  of  sewers  and  twenty-six  thousand  gas  lamps,  in 
]  addition  to  thousands  of  electric  lights !  How  the  spectacle  of  the 
lighted  streets  of  the  Revolutionary  city  in  this  day  would  dazzle  the 
eyes  of  Peale  of  the  old  museum  with  his  primitive  display  of  "  inflam- 
mable air,"  or  progressive  old  Dr.  Kugler,  with  his  small  gas-house 
which  produced  the  mysterious  fluid  "  for  home  consumption  !  " 

Of  all  things  which  this  town  of  Perm  has  done  in  her  two  hun- 
dred and  eleven  years  of  eventful  existence  nothing  has  been  pursued 
more  persistently  and  effectually  than  her  schemes  for  the  education 
of  her  youth  ;  public  and  private  schools,  academies,  colleges,  uiiiver- 
sities  and  institutes  having  taken  root  and  flourished  in  every  quarter 
of  her  spacious  territory.  Two  hundred  and  twenty-nine  public  school 
buildings,  exclusive  of  public  high  schools  and  normal  schools  !  Then 
there  is  the  vast  marble  edifice  which  stands  a  monument  to  the  ben- 
evolence and  wisdom  of  Stephen  Girard  ! — its  orphaned  boys  by  thous- 
ands filling  positions  of  eminence,  of  trust,  of  profit  and  responsibility 
in  the  city  and  State  of  its  location  in  this  day,  through  the  beneficence 
of  the  old  merchant  and  trader  who,  in  the  ever-constant  evidence  of 
the  enduring  character  of  his  work,  seems  to  preside  in  the  spirit 
with  benign  satisfaction  in  front  of  the  towering  Corinthian  pillars  of 
the  vast  pile,  so  stately  in  its  commanding  prospect,  day  by  day 
through  the  years,  with  the  mirth-driven  peal  of  the  active,  buoyant 
figures,  whose  hearts  have  been  lightened  and  futures  assured  through 
his  bounty,  ever  rising  from  the  green  in  the  noon-day  or  evening 
hour  until  the  still,  pallid  face  of  rock  seems  to  smile.  Could  the  old 
Philadelphia!!  return  in  this  day  and  behold  the  effect  of  his  post- 
mortem influence  he  would  perhaps  feel  that  life  to  him  had  been  a 
source  of  good,  and  that  the  wealth,  accumulated  by  so  much  calcu- 
lating, self-denial  and  personal  sacrifire,  had  not  been  bestowed  with- 
out wise  discrimination  and  judgment.  Far-sighted,  kindly  soul ! 
man  of  grand  beneficence  who,  turning  his  back  on  his  own  France, 
journeys  beyond  the  sea  to  the  new  land,  and  casting  his  lot  with  the 


UJUVSESITY 


STEPHEN   GIRARD.  221 


stout-hearted,  manly  Americans  in  the  city  of  Independence,  begins 
his  wondrous  career  of  prosperity  and  usefulness,  and  stamps  his  name 
ineffaceably  on  the  American  town,  as  likewise  on  the  State  of  his 
adoption.  Man  of  probity  and  of  far-reaching,  unending  philanthropy, 
well  does  Philadelphia  honor  the  name  and  memory  of  one  so  worthy 
of  honor !  How  the  name  Girard  is  infixed,  inwrought,  interwoven 
in  that  of  herself  until  the  words  are  synonymous ; — Girard  avenue, 
Girard  street,  Girard  bank,  Girard  row,  Girard  College,  Girard  Point, 
being  a  few  of  the  many  designations  fixed  by  a  grateful  people  as  a 
reminder  ever  of  the  illustrious  son  of  their  adoption.  Yet,  not  more 
illustrious  than  others  of  the  same  clime,  for  this  France,  which  con- 
tested so  fiercely  her  claim  to  half  the  wild  American  continent,  with 
her  ancient  foe,  has  done  wonders  through  her  patriots  and  chivalrous 
champions  of  human  rights  in  all  the  years  of  opposition  and  distress 
in  the  colonies.  No  sooner  does  the  grim  tocsin  of  war  rive  the  throb- 
bing air  than  forth  strides  with  drawn  sword  and  martial  purpose  the 
noble  Lafayette,  throwing  to  the  winds  the  luxuries  and  the  soft 
blandishments  of  his  wonderful  Paris,  and  wafted  by  propitious  breezes, 
lands  011  the  patriot  soil  and  forthwith  repairs  to  the  camp  of  the 
valiant  Washington. 

Washington  !  Lafayette  !  what  stout,  unyielding  links  in  the  bond 
of  friendship  between  two  great  nations  do  these  names  typify ! 
Gallant,  self-sacrificing,  noble  and  chivalrous  Frenchman !  How 
bright  seem  the  legions,  the  gaily  uniformed  infantry  and  the  plumed 
grenadiers  as  they  move  in  columned  hosts  with  steadfast  tread  and 
even  ranks,  so  imposing  and  glorious  in  the  memory,  causing  Phila- 
delphia's streets  to  resound  with  cheers  from  the  assembled  thousands 
in  that  eventful  time  after  Monmouth  when  patriot  hearts  everywhere 
beat  high,  and  only  the  unpatriotic,  the  foes  of  liberty,  were  depressed. 
Never  were  Frenchmen  so  dear  to  Americans  as  on  that  joyous  day,  so 
remote  from  the  dark  and  misty  beginning  of  the  unfoldment  of  the 
New  World  when  the  storm-driven  Eric  saw  through  the  spray  of  the 
northern  sea  the  grim  head-lands  of  a  soil  unknown  and  strange.  A 
dreary  lapse  of  time  had  intervened  since  that  event,  and  France  itsen 
had  recorded  its  experience  with  explorers  and  discoverers  long  enough 
before  these  grateful  and  appreciative  Americans,  who  are  so  happy  in 
their  relations  of  friendship  and  amity  witli  the  descendents  of  the 
ancient  Gauls,  had  any  name  or  existence.  Even  in  the  seemingly 
distant  day  of  the  Revolution,  when  Washington  and  Lafayette  and  the 
whole  grand  host  of  patriots  struggled  and  fought  for  independence, 
they  could  look  back  to  the  days  of  Columbus  and  marvel  at  the 


222  THE  STORY  OF  AN  AMERICAN  CITY. 

immense  stride  in  human  progress  since  that  memorable  discovery  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Orinoco ;  they,  whose  stately  figures  loom  dim  and 
misty  in  the  reach  of  years  which,  to  the  modern  man,  seems  to  relegate 
things  of  only  a  century  ago  to  the  ancient  and  endless  past,  there  to 
have  companionship  with  Eric  and  his  Norwegians,  of  an  era  110  less 
distant  than  ten  centuries. 

Thus  measuring  events  affecting  this  hemisphere,  the  figures  of 
Washington,  Lafayette,  Rochambeau,  Steuben  and  of  the  long  array 
of  patriots  born  of  the  Revolution,  seem  quite  near  and  distinct,  and 
the  brotherly  service  done  by  France  appears  a  thing  sufficiently  recent 
to  cause  the  grateful  American  of  this  day  to  rise  hastily,  forgetful  of 
the  slight  lapse  of  years,  and  experience  a  desire  to  at  once  tender  to  the 
friendly  nation  his  warmest  thanks.  .  That  it  should  be  always  thus  it 
is  to  be  devoutly  hoped,  for  when  gratitude  to  France  dies,  American 
patriotism  dies.  The  reader  of  his  nation's  history  then,  shall  continue 
to  feel  himself  strangely  thrilled  when  there  arises  in  his  mind's  eye 
the  figure  of  the  courtly  M.  de  Luzerne,  the  French  Minister  and  the 
friend  and  sympathizer  of  the  Congress  in  all  its  movements ;  will 
experience  a  throb  of  delight  as  he  reads  of  the  celebrations  of  impor- 
tant victories  by  the  Congress  at  which  M.  de  Luzerne  was  honored 
with  the  seat  at  the  right  of  the  President,  and  will  dwell  with  gladness 
on  the  pages  which  tell  of  the  unprecedented  honors  paid  to  Lafayette 
on  the  occasion  of  his  several  visits  to  the  country  after  its  government 
had  become  stable  and  well  established.  Fitting  and  proper  it  seems 
that  if  Philadelphia  and  Pennsylvania  are  to  be  indebted  to  one  of 
foreign  birth  for  the  greatest  of  American  philanthropic  institutions, 
that  one  should  be,  of  all  nationalities  in  the  world,  a  Frenchman. 
Nor  shall  the  satisfaction  of  the  desceiidents  of  Perm  be  less  marked  by 
the  reflection  that  the  Frenchman  in  question  died  an  American  by 
adoption,  a  compliment  to  the  people  among  whom  he  dwelt,  charac- 
teristic of  his  race. 


iffi 

•I 


UFI7ERSIT7 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

THE  CITY  OF  PENN  AND  ITS  OUTLYING  SECTIONS— HISTORICAL  PHILADELPHIA  WITH 
INDUSTRIAL  PHILADELPHIA  ADDED— GROWTH  ix  WEALTH  AND  CONSTANT  INCREASE 
IN  POPULATION. 

THE  City  of  the  Revolution,  and  the  great  American  city  of  this 
Continent,  Philadelphia,  is  blamed  for  being  too  conservative, 
for  not  being  more  noisy,  more  boisterous  and  bustling,  in  her 
outward  demeanor,  a  fault  of  which  she  may  be  inclined  to  admit 
herself  guilty.     She  is  not  alone  a  city  of  business  but  a  city  of  resi- 
dences in  which  employers  and  employes  own  their  homes  and  even 
have  owned  them  from  that  day  in  the  year  sixteen  hundred  and 
eighty -two  when  William  Penn  first  set  foot  on  his  possessions  west  of 
the  Delaware  in  America,  and  personally  saw  that  his  idea  of  "  a  green 
country  town  which  should  never  be  burned  but  always  be  wholesome  " 
was    faithfully  carried    out.     The  man    of   small    means  was   given 
unusual  inducements  to  buy  property  for  a  home  ;  spacious  boundaries 
were  set  that  there  might  be  room  for  all   and  the  proportion  of 
colonists  who  did  not  avail  themselves  of  the  offer  to  buy  was  so  small 
it  is  scarce  worth  mentioning.     It  was  essentially  a  buyers'  colony  and 
not  a  renters' ;  the  exemplification  of  the  cardinal  idea  of  the  founder 
who  wished  to  see  all  those  who  cast  their  lot  with  him  possess  their 
homes,  that  they  might  feel  more  free  and  independent.     As  the  keel 
of  the  colonization  craft  was  laid  so  it  has  remained.     Look  at  the 
statistics   of   house-erecting   in  the  city  ! — the   growth   of   the   town 
through  a  series  of  years.     Four  thousand  three  hundred  and  ninety 
houses  built  within  the  boundaries  of  the  city  in  the  year  eighteen 
hundred  and  eighty-three  !  yet  more  marvellous  still  the  number  one 
year  later — four  thousand  nine  hundred  and  thirty-eight !     Truly  the 
spirit  of  growth  is  within  her  and  continues  to  be,  as  the  record  for 
the  year  eighteen  hundred  and  eighty-five  proves.     The  number  of 
houses  built  in  these  twelve  months  is  six  thousand  three  hundred 
and  twenty-six.     And  yet  the  increase  with  every  year  continues — 
1886,  7,561  houses  ;  1887,  7,695  ;  1888,  8,337  ;  1889,  10,122  ;  1890, 
10,287.     Marvellous  increase  and  growth  !     Yet  men  complain  that 
the  city  of  Independence  does  not  display  a  scene  of  bustling  activity 
such  as  may  be  witnessed  in  a  town  of  contracted  limits  and  scarcity 
of  room  for  operating  its  business.     This  city  of  Penn  is  a  large  city. 


226  THE  STORY  OF  AN  AMERICAN  CITY. 

so  large  that  days  may  be  occupied  in  making  a  tour  of  her  industrial 
places  to  the  exclusion  wholly  of  the  great  central  portion  in  which  are 
the  limits  of  the  old  town  of  Revolutionary  days  and  of  subsequent 
times  until  half  a  century  afterward.  The  operation  of  her  many  and 
vast  industries — her  mills  and  factories  and  workshops-^is  conducted 
in  various  sections  near  to  and  remote  from  the  centre ;  her  Kensing- 
ton, her  Richmond,  Frankford,  Tacony  and  Holmesburg  in  the  north- 
east ;  her  Manayunk  and  German  town  on  the  north  ;  her  Mantua, 
.Hestonville  and  Haddington  in  the  northwest,  with  West  Philadelphia, 
Paschal ville  and  Angora  on  the  west  and  southwest,  and  South  wark 
and  Moyameiising  on  the  south  are  all  so  many  cities  in  themselves, 
centres  of  stupendous  manufactories  and  of  healthful  and  prosperous 
population,  each  place,  though  large  and  important,  being  an  imsev- 
ered,  uninterrupted  section  of  the  far-reaching  and  populous  whole, 
with  the  same  system  of  improvements,  the  gas  mains  and  the  drainage 
and  the  water-pipes  penetrating  as  copiously  and  as  abundantly  in  the 
distant  sections  as  in  the  grand  centre.  The  scene  of  the  largest 
amount  of  manufacturing  in  America,  yielding  of  carpets  alone  the 
greatest  output  in  the  world,  this  city  of  Perm  is  too  'large  and  too 
roomy  to  be  noisy  and  bustling  !  likewise  too  busy.  Her  workmen 
and  mechanics,  when  the  day's  labor  is  ended,  go  to  their  homes,  pur- 
chased by  them  with  the  money  they  have  earned,  comfortably  fur- 
nished by  the  same  means  and  rendered  healthful  and  attractive  by 
the  yard  in  front,  on  side,  or  in  rear  with  its  green  plot  of  grass  and 
blooming  flowers.  Their  labor  and  their  duties  keep  them  there  in  one 
or  other  of  the  great  outlying  cities  of  the  great  city  itself  and  they 
see  the  centre  of  the  town — of  the  old  town — perhaps  two  or  three  times 
a  year.  That  the  city  of  Perm  may  be  thoroughly  known  the  stranger 
should  prepare  for  a  stay  of  some  length  of  time  ;  he  or  she  should  visit 
the  great  cities,  the  outlying  limbs  of  the  city,  where  manufacture  and 
industry  incessant,  unwearying  and  endless  send  forth  their  music  in  an 
atmosphere  electrical,  vibratory  and  resonant  with  the  vitalizing  subtlety 
and  force  of  combined  busy  mechanical  and  human  action.  The  civil- 

.  ized  world  may  witness  its  source  of  supply  of  many  necessary  and  useful 
things  in  this  Kensington  and  Richmond  and  so  forth,  from  carpets  of 
finest  make  to  marvellous  record-breaking  steel  war  cruisers  ;  from 

j  tapestries  and  silks  and  plushes  to  ponderous  fast-flying  locomotives  ; 
from  flannels  and  worsteds  and  cassimere  to  morocco  and  cordage  and 
the  best  of  American  flint  glass.  From  the  carpet  mills  and  the 
textile  manufactories,  fresh  from  the  loom,  come  the  unending  variety 
of  patterns  for  shipment,  and  likewise  for  display  in  the  mammoth 


GROWTH   IX   WEALTH   AND    INCREASE   IN   POPULATION.  229 


establishments  of  retail  trade  on  Chestnut  and  Market  streets.  Ever 
increasing  and  expanding,  the  sphere  of  industrial  productiveness  in 
the  town  of  Perm  is  bursting  through  the  remotest  city  limits  and 
encroaching  on  the  territory  of  the  surrounding  counties  to  an  extent 
that  presages  a  necessity  for  further  annexation  to  a  municipal  territory 
already  the  largest  in  the  world  and  the  most  universally  available  for 
the  construction  of  houses  for  its  citizens.  Where  will  this  expansion 
end  ?  The  city  of  Independence  finds  nothing  new  or  strange  in  the 
fact  that  she  is  growing  larger  rapidly,  for  has  she  not  been  ever 
increasing  in  wealth  as  in  population  ?  Here  is  her  land,  valued  at 
more  than  two  thousand  million  dollars,  selling  rates,  and  yet  her 
manufacturing  interests  demand  some  further  operating  room  from  the 
adjacent  counties? 

Well   may  the   counties   look  with   some   apprehension    on  the 
threatened  encroachment  on  their  territory  of  the  ever-increasing  city, 
so  true  to  the  promise  of  her  beginning  away  back  in  the  days  of  her 
benevolent  founder.    For,  has  not  her  growth  in  population  in  the  past 
thirty  years  been  enough  to  arouse  wonder  among  the  most  sanguine  i 
believers  in  her  destiny  ?      Six  hundred  and  seventy-four  thousand  / 
citizens  in  the  year  eighteen  hundred  and  seventy,  and  nine  hundred/ 
thousand  ten  years  later  !     Yet,  more  striking  still  the  increase  in  the/ 
following  ten  years,- — one  million  and  fifty  thousand  in  eighteen  hun- 
dred and  ninety,  and  one  million  two  hundred  thousand  in  the  year 
eighteen  hundred  and  ninety-three  ! 

With  the  increase  in  the  number  of  citizens  every  year  there  is 
also  an  increase  in  the  number  of  buildings ;  ten  thousand  substantial 
structures  ascending  skyward  and  rendered  complete  annually  at  a 
yearly  cost  for  the  lot  of  twenty  million  dollars.  It  is  one  of  the 
peculiar  things  about  this  Philadelphia  that  when  any  given  industry 
reaches  huge  proportions,  the  conductors  thereof,  laying  aside  all 
business  rivalry,  come  together  in  a  spirit  of  pride  and  glorification, 
put  their  hands  into  their  pockets  and  erect  at  joint  expense  a  sort  of 
Temple  of  Freedom  or  Exchange,  in  which  structure  all  may  meet  and 
transact  business.  Thus  in  late  years  the  city  of  Penn  has  witnessed 
the  rise  and  development  of  the  famous  Builders'  Exchange,  which 
has  proved  to  be  the  precursor  to  a  general  consolidation  of  many  and 
varied  great  interests  into  one  institution  of  such  magnitude  and  impor- 
tance as  to  place  it,  when  completed,  beyond  anything  of  the  kind  in 
the  world.  Great  have  been  the  preparations  for  the  construction  of 
the  Philadelphia  Bourse,  and  immense  will  be  the  benefit  to  the  world 
of  business  when  it  shall  rise  a  finished  product  of  the  builder's 


230  THE   STORY   OF   AN   AMERICAN   CITY. 

stupendous  work.  Ever  restless  and  progressive,  the  city  of  Independ- 
ence, with  her  countless  industries,  boundless  facilities  for  commerce 
and  untold  resources,  flies  to  the  business  of  building  and  enlarging 
as  readily  and  promptly  as  if  that  first  Congressional  assemblage  in 
the  Hall  of  the  Carpenters  had  in  gratitude  evolved  a  patron  saint 
for  the  town,  whose  inspiration  was  the  craft  that  reared  the  walls  of 
the  old  historic  pile  and  made  it  the  home  and  sheltering  place  of 
incipient  patriotism. 


Reader :  In  this  year  of  aroused  patriotism  and  universally 
renewed  interest  and  zeal  in  the  task  of  historical  research,  if  good 
fortune  shall  take  you  to  the  scene  of  that  greatest  of  World's  cele- 
brations in  the  city  of  Chicago,  so  eloquently  described  and  so  vividly 
pictured  by  Philadelphia's  talented  son,  Colonel  Alexander  K.  McClure, 
where  nations  from  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth  are  meeting  in 
glad  reunion  in  honor  of  this  wonderful  America,  on  the  occasion  of 
the  four  hundredth  anniversary  of  its  discovery  by  the  patient  and 
far-seeing  Italian,  Columbus,  fail  not  to  wend  your  way  to  a  certain 
towered  building,  so  like  the  old  Hall  of  American  Independence, 
which  men  know  well ;  and  in  the  stately  structure  devoted  to  the 
use  of  Pennsylvania's  citizens  gaze  on  the  historic  bell  which  pro- 
claimed that  liberty  which  made  the  American  nation  free,  as  it  sits 
there  in  the  spacious  rotunda,  exhibited  to  the  world  under  the  auspices 
of  Philadelphia's  Joint  Special  Committee  of  Councils,  and  likewise 
view  the  relics  of  the  days  of  Penii  and  of  the  later  period  of  the 
Revolution,  and  in  their  mute  eloquence  read  the  heroic  and  salient 
things  of  American  history. 


THE  PHILADELPHIA   BOURSE, 

The  Home  of  the  Commercial,  Mercantile,  and  flanufacturing  Interests 

of  the  City. 


THE  Philadelphia  Bourse  was  organ  i /eel  in  June,  1891,  for  the 
purpose  of  erecting  and  maintaining  in  the  heart  of  the  busi- 
ness portion  of  this  vast  city,  a  building  in  which  it  is 
intended  to  effect  the  concentration  of  Philadelphia  trade ;  to  create 
one  great  centre  where  importers,  manufacturers,  merchants,  bankers, 
merchandise  brokers  of  all  kinds,  insurance,  railroad  and  steamship 
agents,  weighers,  samplers,  inspectors,  etc.,  shall  all  be  directly  repre- 
sented, and  where  anything  and  everything  manufactured  or  for  sale 
in  the  city  can  be  purchased,  invoiced,  insured  and  shipped  without 
going  out  of  the  building.  Also  to  provide  in  the  building  suitable 
offices  for  the  various  manufacturers  and  others  whose  factories  and 
places  of  business  are  distant  from  the  center  of  the  city  and  who 
desire  to  keep  samples  where  they  can  easily  be  seen  by  the  many 
buyers  who  come  to  this  market,  and  lastly  to  establish  a  permanent 
exhibition  of  all  classes  of  goods  manufactured  or  for  sale  in  the  city, 
which  wilL  be  open  to  the  public  free. 

This  building  is  now  in  course  of  erection  on  the  block  of  ground 
bounded  by  Fourth,  Fifth,  Merchant  and  Ranstead  Streets,  and  is 
within  one  hundred  feet  of  both  Chestnut  and  Market  Streets,  the 
principal  business  and  banking  streets  of  the  city. 

The  building,  which  will  cost  about  $2,000,000,  will  be  302  feet 
long  by  132  feet  wide  and  nine  stories  high;  the  height  from  the 
street  level  to  the  roof  will  be  about  145  feet. 

A  basement  story  will  extend  under  the  whole  building  and  at 
the  Fifth  Street,  end  will  accommodate  all  the  machinery,  boilers, 
pumps",  electric  and  elevator  plants. 

The  exterior  will  be  of  red  stone  to  the  third  story  sills,  a  height 
of  45  foot,  and  the  upper  stories  of  Pompeian  brick  and  with  orna- 
mental terra-cotta  of  a  shade  to  harmonize  with  the  stone.  The  first 
floor  will  contain  the  Great  Hall  of  the  Bourse,  a  room  232  x  125  feet 
in  si/e  and  55  feet  high  in  the  centre  under  the  dome  of  the  skylight, 
which  will  extend  the  whole  length  of  the  building  and  which  will  be 
40  feet  in  width,  allowing  great  floods  of  light  to  enter  this,  one  of 
the  largest  meeting  halls  tor  commercial  purposes  in  the  United  States 


23'2  THE  STORY  OF  AN  AMERICAN  CITY. 


In  this  hall  will  gather  daily  representatives  of  all  the  business 
houses  in  the  city,  to  the  number  of  about  5000 ;  the  membership  at 
the  present  time  approximates  3000,  but  many  firms  and  corporations 
will  have  several  representatives  present.  At  these  daily  meetings  on 
the  floor  of  the  Bourse,  one  will  be  able  to  complete  the  most  intricate- 
business  transactions  from  the  purchase  of  material  at  a  distant  point, 
arrange  for  its  transportation,  manufacture,  sale,  shipment,  insurance 
and  negotiate  the  bills  without  leaving  the  building.  On  the  ground 
floor  there  will  also  be  four  handsome  banking  rooms,  together  with 
telegraph  offices  and  minor  offices  necessary  for  the  proper  handling 
of  business  and  the  comfort  of  members.  In  galleries  along  both  sides 
of  the  Great  Hall — 27  feet  above  the  floor — will  be  news  rooms  in 
which  will  be  displayed  the  market  reports  of  the  whole  world,  which 
will  be  received  by  telegraph  and  cable,  condition  of  crops,  weather 
bulletins,  stocks  on  hand,  business  changes  and  all  information  that 
will  be  of  service  to  any  of  the  members ;  also  files  of  news  and  trade 
papers  from  all  the  principal  cities  of  this  and  foreign  countries,  a 
commercial  library,  and  large  comfortable  rooms  for  the  entertain- 
ment of  strangers  from  out  of  the  city,  making  something  in  the  order 
of  a  commercial  club,  combining  physical  comfort  with  business 
opportunities.  The  advantages  of  this  will  be  appreciated  by  all 
business  men  who  visit  the  city. 

A  particularly  valuable  feature  will  be  the  exhibition  department, 
designed  to  occupy  the  entire  top  floor  of  the  Bourse  Building,  where 
goods  of  a  general  character  will  be  exhibited.  In  addition  to  this 
there  will  be  a  large  hall  in  the  basement,  where  machinery  will  be 
shown,  both  at  rest  and  in  motion.  Manufacturers,  agents  and  busi- 
ness men  of  all  kinds,  whose  work  or  offices  are  located  in  other  cities, 
and  whose  goods  must  be  seen  to  effect  a  sale,  will  appreciate  the 
value  of  a  finely  lighted  exhibition  hall,  open  free  daily  to  all  visitors. 
in  a  building  that  will  be  the  recognized  centre  of  business  in  such  an 
important  industrial  city  as  Philadelphia.  The  merchant  going  to 
the  city  to  purchase  goods  would  find  the  Bourse  equally  convenient 
and  valuable  as  a  place  where  he  could  meet  scores  of  wholesalers  in 
a  short  time  and  save  many  valuable  hours  now  wasted  in  going  from 
place  to  place. 

Beside  the  rooms  devoted  to  these  purposes,  the  building  will  con- 
tain about  400  offices  of  various  sizes.  They  will  be  fitted  up  with  all 
conveniences  to  be  desired  in  a  modern  office  building,  and  being 
directly  in  the  business  and  financial  centre  will  be  in  great  demand. 
Manufacturers  and  business  houses  in  other  sections  of  the  country 


THE  PHILADELPHIA  BOURSE.  235 

desiring  to  locate  a  branch  office  or  a  representative  in  Philadelphia 
cannot  find  a  better  location,  as  they  will  be  in  immediate  touch  with 
all  the  people  in  the  city  with  whom  they  may  desire  to  do  business. 
The  Company  will  be  glad  to  furnish  all  information  regarding  these 
rooms,  upon  request.  Access  to  the  different  floors  is  had  by  a  system 
of  eight  large  hydraulic  elevators,  four  at  each  end  of  the  building, 
and  stairways  run  from  floor  to  floor  both  at  the  ends  and  in  the 
centre  of  the  building. 

The  basement,  beside  the  machinery  exhibition  room,  will  con- 
tain a  restaurant  of  moderate  size,  a  barber  shop  with  bathing  facilities 
and  large  toilet  and  cloak  rooms. 

The  completion  and  occupancy  of  this  magnificent  building  will 
mark  the  advent  of  a  new  factor  into  the  •  business  world  and  the 
commercial  body  which  will  be  organized  from  the  vast  membership 
of  the  Bourse  will  take  an  active  and  leading  position  in  directing  all 
the  movements  which  from  time  to  time  arise  in  the  commercial  life 
of  a  great  city.  Philadelphia  is  to  be  congratulated  that  at  last  an 
organization  exists  in  her  midst  which  will  be  of  a  magnitude  com- 
mensurate with  her  importance  and  capable  of  commanding,  both  at 
home  and  abroad,  the  respect  which  is  naturally  accorded  to  an  associ- 
ation of  vast  proportions  dealing  intelligently  and  in  a  dignified 
manner  with  subjects  of  great  importance.  It  is  earnestly  hoped  that 
business  men  from  all  of  this  wide  land  of  ours,  as  well  as  those  from 
abroad,  will  accept  the  invitation  that  is  extended  to  them  to  visit  the 
Philadelphia  Bourse  and  avail  themselves  of  the  privileges  and  advan- 
tages for  the  transaction  of  business  there  offered.  They  can  feel 
assured  of  a  hearty  welcome  in  the  City  of  Brotherly  Love  and  will 
doubtless  carry  away  with  them  substantial  results  of  their  visit  to  this 
new  home  of  the  commercial,  mercantile  and  manufacturing  interests 
of  Philadelphia. 


A  GREAT   RAILROAD. 


ONE  of  the  greatest  railroads  of  modern  times  both  for  extent 
of  route  and  scope  of  territory  covered,  as  well  as  for  variety 
of  grand  scenery,  is  the  CHICAGO,  BURLINGTON  &  QUINCY, 
running  west  from  Chicago,  whose  familiar  sign,  "  Burlington  Route  " 
stares  one  in  the  face  in  every  hotel  office  and  public  house  in  the 
land.  There  is  not  an  important  city  between  Chicago  and  far 
Wyoming  State  which  the  Burlington  does  not  touch,  its  system  pre- 
senting one  vast  network  of  interlacing  tracks  and  sweeping  north 
and  south  in  numerous  branches  from  its  great  westward  trunk,  thus 
cutting  a  wide  swath  through  two  and  more  States  as  it  progresses 
toward  the  Pacific. 

It  extends  to  Sheridan  in  the  extreme  northern  part  of  Wyoming. 
having  its  terminus  in  the  region  of  the  Shoshone  and  Big  Horn 
mountains.  Almost  directly  south  it  has  another  line  reaching  more 
directly  west  which  terminates  at  Cheyenne,  and  directly  south  of  this 
terminus  it  has  stilL  another  line,  or  prong,  ending  at  Denver,  or 
strictly  speaking  at  Lyons,  in  the  Rocky  Mountains,  beyond  Denver. 
It  is  difficult  for  the  mind  to  realize  the  vast  extent  of  territory  covered 
by  this  great  system.  Starting  at  Chicago  it  covers  with  numerous 
branches  all  of  Northern  and  Western  Illinois  and  when  it  reaches 
the  western  border  of  the  State  it  branches  in  two  great  lines  'directly 
north  and  south  to  St.  Paul  and  Minneapolis  and  to  St.  Louis  respect- 
ively, the  latter  city  being  almost  a  thousand  miles  south  on  a  parallel 
line  from  the  two  rival  Minnesota  towns.  The  main  line  meanwhile 
continues  westward,  touching  Des  Moines,  Council  Bluffs,  Omaha,  St. 
Joseph,  Lincoln,  Kansas  City,  Atchisoii,  Leavenworth,  and  hundreds 
of  other  cities  and  towns  in  the  vast  western  half  of  the  continent. 
To  one  desiring  to  see  the  great  west  with  its  marvelous  scenery,  its 
wondrous  thrift  and  enterprise  the  Chicago,  Burlington  &  Quincy 
affords  a  constant  panorama  of  grand  sights,  ever  varying  and  always 
delightful.  Mr.  P.  S.  Eustis,  its  enterprising  General  Passenger  and 
Ticket  Agent  in  Chicago,  is  ever  ready  to  give  or  forward  information 
as  to  the  best  of  the  Burlington's  many  rcmfcm  lu  litiUaJj)  see  the  most 
of  the  famous  western  scenery  in  a  gi; 


UHIVIESITY 


••••••R 


(;KI;MA.NTO\VN  Ci:icKi"r  (M.ru. 

COLI.AIIUA  Ci.ru,  ATHI.KTIC  Ci.ru  OF  TIN-:  SCIIIVI.KII.I.  NAVY, 

Broad  am!  Oxford  Streets.  An-li   Street,  near  Seventeenth. 


NEW  BUILDING  OF  WOMEN'S  CHRISTIAN  ASSOCIATION,  Eighteenth  and  Arch  Stnvts. 


I 


(iKOl'P   OF    HlSTOIMCAI.   CliriM   Ill's. 
<)U)    SWKDKS   ClUKCH. 

CHRIST  Curncii.  ST.  PBTEB'S  CHUECH, 


TUU7SESIT7 


ftfinriBSITYl 


UII7IRSIT7 


\ 


i 

**a 

y 

3  td 

•  o 


ii 


s 

ttq 

S3 

tv 


pi**1 

19 


I  •      ,  .  %**• 

tfr^* 

?-,- 

PHI  LAD 

;i-5gr 

^%£ 
*-£? 

*&% 

p 

*•; 

*«>,  - 

I 

*Nfc.      *"*"    * 

^  

» 

e>     pwr 

v: 

y  ^BUBN           # 

1 

s 

*«*»• 

*^ 

1 

. 

ii 

s          >-v 

=  k*          if 

TJJU7IESITT 


V 


I 

i 


UFI7SBSITT 


•I 


I    J 


II 

I! 

5*1 


U1U7BESIT7 


TJJTIVWSITT 


(inu.s'  NOKMAL  SCHOOLS. 
Xe\\    School,  Thirteenth   and  Spring  (iarden   Streets 

<)ld  School,  Seventeenth  and  Spring  (umlen  Streets. 


1 


1'oueK,  FIUK  AND  PATROL  STATIONS,  Twentieth  Street  below  Fuderal 


TJFJVIBSITY 


i 


.•^•Mf 


TJ1UV1RSITT 


IlAHNKM  ANN    HOMOEOPATHIC   (Y)LI.K<;K    AND    I  InsIMTAI.,    Broiul   near    Mart'   Street. 


UFIVIRSITY 


n 


m 


UII7I1SIT7 


BROAD  STREET,  from  corner  of  Walnut,  lookinu  N 


orth  towards  (  ity 


UJU7IESIT7 


I 


'BL 


HKIVIESITT 


COLOSSAL  STATIK  OF  WILLIAM   Pi  NN.  t<>  snnr.ount  the  Tower  ot  the  Citv  Hall. 


o 
- 


p 


UJJV1E3ITY 


~ 


§ 


I 


TJIU7IESIT7 





s 


•i 


a 


i  i 

:i  ? 


TJIUVEBSITT 


IOAN  DEPT 


• 


K5 


